Category: Northern Alliance

February 10, 2021

Aberdeenshire English as an Additional Language (EAL) Service

In Aberdeenshire, our EAL teachers have been working to find the best ways to support bilingual learners and their families throughout the pandemic, as well as class teachers. If adapting to the challenges of the pandemic and online learning were not hard enough, many children and families have also faced the language barrier, as well as perhaps not being familiar with the Scottish Curriculum and routines and norms that may be taken for granted as something all children and families will think of as normal. Over the last year, our EAL teachers have embraced new ways of working and have developed a range of resources and approaches. Telephone interpreting used to be very rarely used but has now seen demand skyrocket with a lot of positive feedback on its effectiveness in breaking down the language barrier and building relationships between school and family. On several occasions schools have been able to speak to parents who they had not previously managed to reach, and as a result have managed to overcome some barriers that had prevented families from accessing online learning. EAL teachers have also been supporting bilingual learners by sharing advice and resources with class teachers, and also working with some pupils through video conferencing, including teaching SQA ESOL courses. The service has also produced translated comments and videos to support families who may be having difficulty in engaging with online learning.

Translated comments

A range of translated comments were developed to support home-school communication and have been used to communicate one way information to families, with comments being successfully used to overcome barriers to engagement:

“Aberdeenshire EAL Service covers a wide geographical area with a number of rural remote communities where our families can be distributed and which can pose communication challenges, particularly when schools are closed to most pupils during this time. One of my larger small town schools, that has a wide catchment area, have a family who were not responding to school information circulars and letters home. I sent the school the translated comments information which included a translation and the school came back and said they found it very useful and were discussing whether to send the translations out to other EAL families across the school.”

Sue Clutterbuck (EAL Teacher)

Telephone interpreting

Translated letters have also been developed to communicate to parents when the school would like to make a call and offer options that the parent can highlight for when they would be available. This has resulted in several calls with parents being arranged when the school had previously found it difficult to reach the parents.

“I supported a teacher in one of my schools in using the telephone interpreting service for the first time. By using the translated letters we had produced, parents were able to tell her when they would be free and she was able to call them and speak to them for the first time through an interpreter.”

Ian Brownlee (PT of EAL)

Our service has been strongly encouraging schools to use telephone interpreting and in general the feedback has been great (see examples of feedback in the picture below).

Translated Videos

We also worked in partnership with Aberdeenshire’s Learning Through Technology Team to develop translated videos that guide pupils/parents on how to log in to glow and how to use Microsoft Teams and Google Classrooms. The videos were produced in the top five most common languages in Aberdeenshire and have been successfully used to support some families in overcoming barriers to accessing and engaging with online learning:

“They used the link, watched the video and it worked! Bingo. ☺️”

Sarah Jane Bennison (EAL Teacher)

“I sent the video on how to connect to google classrooms to 2 of the P1 teachers from one of my schools, I made sure they had a direct access to the video, so they didn’t have to look around for it. They sent the video to the parents of P1 pupils with little English, who had not been engaged and 1 child the following day was online and the other child the week after.”

Amanda Blackburn (EAL Teacher)

Colleagues in other local authorities have also given positive feedback on the videos:

“Of course, we have also been signposting homes to the brilliant videos on the use of ICT/GLOW/Teams on the Aberdeenshire site!”

“I’ve watched the translated glow videos your service have made – they are amazing! Would you mind if I shared that link with some of our schools?; the teams one and logging into glow are so valuable right now.”

Ian Brownlee

Principal Teacher of English as an Additional Language

Aberdeenshire EAL Service

October 26, 2020

Bebras Computing Challenge at Portlethen Academy

post by Ian Simpson (@familysimpson), Faculty Head of ICT at Portlethen Academy (@portyacad)

What is the Bebras Computing Challenge?

The Bebras Computing Challenge is a long-running international competition which promotes the importance of computational thinking and problem solving skills in a wider world context. It is organised in over 50 countries and designed to get students aged 6 to 18 from all over the world excited about computing.

Students have to employ a variety of problem-solving strategies in order to complete up to 18 challenges in the allotted time. High scoring students may be lucky enough to qualify for a celebration event which, in previous years, has taken place at Hertford College, Oxford.

Why we entered the competition

At Portlethen Academy all S1-3 students take part in the competition, with those in senior phase given the chance to participate as part of their Computing Science or Mathematics classes. Every individual who takes part receives a digital certificate from the University of Oxford which can be printed out in school or at home and those who achieve scores in the top 25% of the cohort are invited to take part in the TCSOCC Challenge in February as recognition of their strong computational thinking skills and to increase their exposure to computer programming problems.

Faculty Head of ICT Ian Simpson has coached groups of students to take part in the Bebras Computing Challenge since 2013. “To get the best out of the groups it shouldn’t be an add on or break from ‘normal lessons’, it is in the school’s best interest to embed teaching of computational thinking skills and prepare for the challenge using the practice challenges or the Perfect Day app.”

What pupils learnt from it

Seven students from S1 and 2 scored highly enough in the 2019 challenge to receive an invitation to the celebration event at Hertford College in January 2020. Thanks to support from contacts at Total and Aberdeenshire DYW six were able to travel to Oxford to take part in the final round, experience Computing Science sample lectures and find out more about life as a student at the University of Oxford. Ian Simpson added “This was the first time that such a high number of students from a state school in Aberdeenshire had qualified for the final round. It was a surprise in some ways but testament to the hard work the students put in preparing for the challenge.”

As well as giving students the chance to think creatively and apply their knowledge from across a variety of subject areas the Bebras Computing Challenge helps build student resilience. These skills have increasing demand in further and higher education and will serve them well in the workplace of the future. Taking part in the final round also gave the students increased confidence in their own abilities and, on the drive back to Heathrow, many were sharing strategies they had learned from other participants to improve on their scores next year.

Sign up for Bebras here.

September 29, 2020

DigiLearnScot Webinar Q&A with Claire Eade, Meethill Primary School, Peterhead

We have been speaking to teachers across Scotland to find out more about their experiences of using digital technology to support their learners. In this Q&A Claire Eade, Class Teacher at Meethill Primary School in Peterhead, shares what she has learned from joining webinars to build digital skills and the top tips she would give to other educators on using digital technology. Look out for more Q&As soon!

How has your use of digital changed since schools closed in March?

My use of digital has changed a huge amount. I had used Teams a little bit before schools closed but not to the extent we then needed to. Initially I had no idea how to navigate Teams and upload assignments but taking part in the digital skills webinars helped me with this greatly.

Which webinar/s from Education Scotland’s DigiLearn team did you join and why?

I joined the webinar on using mobile devices to enhance and capture language learning and I joined webinars on using Teams. I also joined the webinar on Google Classroom in case I ever need to use that.

Why did you pick these webinars in particular?

The descriptions for these webinars sounded exactly like what I needed to help with teaching the children on-line.

How was the experience of joining an online webinar?

They were absolutely brilliant. They were so easy to join. I was sent a link and I just needed to click on it to access the webinar. It’s up to the webinar attendees whether they switch their camera and microphone on. You’re given the opportunity to put questions in and if these aren’t answered at the time then the DigiLearn team will come back to you with an answer later. The webinars are recorded so you also have the option to watch it later which is great in case there is anything you have forgotten.

What have you learned from joining these webinar/s to build digital skills?

I’ve learned that it is not essential for me to be face to face with the children to teach them. When schools closed I thought I really needed to be in front of the children to teach them but I’ve learned that we can absolutely teach them on-line.

How did you use these skills to support your learners? Tell us more.

These digital skills have helped me to support my learners in many ways. For example I’ve learned how to use screen capture so that I can show my pupils videos or PowerPoints. I can also record commentary over a PowerPoint so that I can highlight and explain different points to my pupils. I can also use the whiteboard tool to actually demonstrate examples to them and aid their understanding.

How have you used Glow to help you support learning at home?

I found Glow very useful for finding resources. For example, I found a great resource for teaching activities in French through Glow. I also saw posts from teachers on social media suggesting resources they had found using Glow which I could then go and look up. Glow has also been very useful for communication as my class regularly contacted me through my Glow email while schools were closed.

From your experience, what top tips would you give to other educators on using digital?

My top tip is don’t be scared! Don’t be scared to ask questions especially on the DigiLearn Teams group. It doesn’t matter what the question is, and you might think it is a silly question, but there is always someone else wanting to ask the same thing. I posted a question recently asking about how to archive my Team and I got a response back really quickly. It’s important to make use of the expert knowledge out there as there is always someone who can answer your question.

September 2, 2020

Creating engaging, interactive lessons in Home Economics using Google Slides and Pear Deck

Using Pear Deck, a Google Slides Add-On, in Home Economics makes the lessons engaging, fun, interactive and accessible for all. My best lockdown find!

As we return to teach in a classroom at a social distance from our students, I can set the deck to work either at a student or instructor pace. Using the asynchronous setting Pear Deck allows students to work at their own pace unhindered by others. Nothing holds them back; the high flyers move on to extension activities whilst those who can struggle with their reading or have EAL can use the immersive reader feature. Everyone has a go at the tasks as although their responses can be displayed on my whiteboard they are anonymous so suddenly the quiet student who has never raised their hands contributes to the lesson. At any time the lesson can become synchronous. Left as asynchronous work can be completed when they leave class such as in Study or for homework. At all times during the lesson, I am able to see exactly what each student is working on, stop them and draw their attention to points raised without calling out any particular student and potential embarrassing them. Pear Deck has been my best find of lockdown and is compatible with many other EdTEch tools. Not all features are free but for approximately £10 a month it’s worth the upgrade.

Rachel Richards, PT for Faculty of Design, Technology and Home Economics

Kingussie High School

Highland

@MrsRichards_HEc

Click here to open the Google Slides presentation

June 23, 2020

Post School Destinations, UCAS – Virtual Showcase

DGS Virtual University and College Showcase. On Wednesday 10th June, 15 Universities, Colleges and Organisations from across Scotland delivered virtual presentations with q&a’s to young people and families across Argyll & Bute. This was done in 1/2 hour slots throughout the day via 6 digital platforms; MicrosoftTeams, Adobe Connect, Zoom, Blackboard, WebEx and Youtube. Pupils were added to a Google Classroom via their Glow accounts where they could access the links as well as other valuable information regarding UCAS. For families or recent school leavers who didn’t have access to Glow, we made the links available on our school website. We used our school and Skills Development Scotland social media platforms to promote the event. For a number of sessions, we had over 90 participants which was a fantastic level of engagement from the young people of Argyll & Bute. We had double figures engagement for every session, averaging 50-60 participants. A number of institutions recognised that we were the first school in Scotland to enquire about a Virtual Showcase to school pupils, something that many of the Universities and Colleges had never done before. The day ran extremely smoothly, with every session being successfully delivered via their technologies and chosen platforms. A number also agreed to record their sessions and allow us to post in our Google classroom for regular access. Institutions who could not deliver on the day, have contacted us and sent over recordings which we again can publish. Overall, it was a fantastic experience the see the extremely high level of engagement from young people in an authority that covers a large geographical area connect with so many Universities, Colleges and Organisations that wouldn’t be able to deliver in the current climate face to face. Through technology, we were able to deliver our originally planned physical showcase in the school building and deliver it on a larger scale with increased levels of engagement from young people and institutions.

Colin Deans

Principle Teacher, Guidance

Dunoon Grammar

Delighted to announce this @dunoongrammar1 @dgsdyw 👇 thank you to the institutions & organisations that have already agreed to participate @ucas_online @skillsdevscot @saastweet @EdinburghNapier @UniWestScotland @dundeeuni @GKCollege @QMUniversity #nowrongpath #pathways pic.twitter.com/aheG8LeArQ

— DGS Support Department (@dgs_support) June 2, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

June 23, 2020

Post School Destinations, UCAS – Virtual Showcase

Colin Deans

Principle Teacher, Guidance

Dunoon Grammar

Delighted to announce this @dunoongrammar1 @dgsdyw 👇 thank you to the institutions & organisations that have already agreed to participate @ucas_online @skillsdevscot @saastweet @EdinburghNapier @UniWestScotland @dundeeuni @GKCollege @QMUniversity #nowrongpath #pathways pic.twitter.com/aheG8LeArQ

— DGS Support Department (@dgs_support) June 2, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

June 23, 2020

Parent and Community Engagement during ‘Lockdown’

I have always viewed Dalintober PS & ELC as a ‘community’ school, in its truest sense. Our commitment to ensuring that we actively communicate with parents and partners and include them in our curriculum and social planning and implementation is essential to our schools’ & ELC ethos. This has grown to include the second school that I recently became Head Teacher of – Glenbarr PS.

We have always had very solid foundations and relationships with our parents and communities, but I can truly say that the ‘lockdown’ period has only strengthened these connections. Engagement and discussion has been a constant feature of our overall strategy during lockdown.

We had intended to investigate Google Classrooms as part of our 3 year School Improvement Plan – but ‘lockdown’ certainly expedited this! The commitment and energy of staff, pupils and parents in taking forward our new digital learning systems has been, quite simply, outstanding. We have worked together to find ways to offer devices and support, including phone consultations – and with the help of partner agencies in the Children & Families Team and the Kintyre Community Resilience Group.

We have very successful school Facebook Pages, including a closed ELC Parent/Carer & Staff Group, and these have continued to be the main vehicle in recognising and celebrating achievements, sharing good news stories and information. Parents are incredibly supportive of our social media pages and there are lovely interactions on a daily basis. We have ensured that we have a ‘virtual’ final term, keeping many of the events and activities that would normally occur at this point in the school year – this has included ‘Virtual’ Assemblies, ‘Virtual’ School Photo Day, ‘Virtual’ Sports Day, ‘Virtual’ School Trips and Music Festival Week and on-going transition activities. Posting and sharing photos, as we normally would, has helped us maintain a positive and feel-good link with the community and parents at this unprecedented time.

We have also continued to work alongside local partners and businesses – this has included Shopper-Aide, the Great Lockdown Quarantine Quiz, Roots of Empathy, and Glen Scotia & Springbank Distilleries and may others – including upcoming interviews with ‘noted Campbeltonians’ such as best-selling author, Denzil Meyrick and musician/composer, Lorne MacDougall.

I very much believe in being open, honest and approachable to parents and the school communities. There is nothing more powerful than human connection and maintaining that connection ‘virtually’ has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of my working week – both prior to, and during lockdown.

Our school buildings may be closed; but our schools’ & ELC ethos continue to thrive.

We thank everyone involved in helping us achieve and sustain this.

Caroline Armour

Head Teacher

Dalintober PS & ELC and Glenbarr PS

June 23, 2020

Seesaw as a digital remote learning tool: Digital Tracking of Pupil Engagement and top tips for increasing engagement

After receiving CLPL funding from the Education Scotland STEM Nation grant this year, training was offered across the Islay cluster in digital skills. One of the key developments implemented in Port Ellen and Bowmore primary was to train staff in the use of Seesaw as a digital PLP tool to replace cumbersome and time–consuming learning logs. Under a joint headship both schools decided to invest in the paid for Seesaw for school’s version of the App. This version allowed us to have continuity of progression throughout a child’s time in school and also to track the Es and Os across subjects with its skills tracking tool. It was great to be able to include video, audio and photos into a body of evidence for achievement across a level, as well as comments and feedback from teachers and students on their learning and next steps. And parents had access to their children’s learning through the family app and could leave comments as well.

Then Coronavirus happened and schools were going to close. We quickly handed out home learning codes to pupils and parents and got them to download the class app at home, enabling them to continue their learning remotely. Ipads were provided for families without technology. Suddenly Seesaw was not just a PLP, but a home learning tool, one that could be used by children from ELC to P7 to learn remotely.

Teachers from P1 up plan and provide a weekly grid of learning activities for pupils to work with that have a good balance across literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, STEAM and other curricular areas; the emphasis is on spending as much learning time offline as on a device, by taking advantage of our fantastic environment here on Islay. We have seen some examples of truly outstanding pupil learning happening at home and share it on our Twitter feeds. We even had a retweet from NASA for one of our rocket building STEAM activities!

Pupil engagement is something we have worked hard to maintain in the move to remote learning. One of the key benefits of Seesaw is the ability to track engagement across the school; school admins can access a spreadsheet each week that shows how often children have posted and which activities have been completed, so we can quickly identify children whose engagement suddenly falls off and intervene. Staff have regular Google Meet discussions where they share their personal success stories with engagement; we quickly realised that regular video messages from teachers and audio feedback helped engagement- one parent said it was like having the teacher in their home. This is particularly successful with early years. Staff have also developed their digital skills to improve engagement, with some creating virtual Classrooms using Google slides and personalised Bitmojis. Here children can click on items in the class to link them to a video message from their teacher, a learning activity, video or document online. We have also used physical means to engage; early years sent sunflower seeds through the post for their children to plant. Finally, we share successful learning stories that aim to inspire other learners through shared Seesaw posts to all the students and parents, Seesaw blogs and Twitter.

When there are issues with engagement, we have implemented a variety of measures to help. We send encouraging messages to parents and pupils, have made phone calls home and have provided Ipads and dongles where needed so access is not a barrier. For some parents physical materials in the form of textbooks and worksheets have provided extra support that makes them less anxious. One of our key aims once schools are back is to find a way to provide more extensive training for parents so they are more confident in what will be a model of blended learning. All of the school community are glad that we chose to implement Seesaw in schools before the crisis, a versatile tool that has helped us continue to engage children and support them and their families at this time.

Interactive virtual class

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uisENFphlYhyKGamrhIgGwML7siqRjPBBOhv9uFZyos/edit?usp=sharing

Screenshot of engagement spreadsheet.

PORT ELLEN TWEETS

Link to tweet about our use of emotionworks.

https://twitter.com/portellenps/status/1265642824894160897?s=20

Link to video about making bread

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.09f3cac7-edbe-4d77-836b-5bd087100dd9&share_token=GaseIiBmRKC4jIP4r4sbrg&mode=share

link to giant bubbles tweet with vid

https://twitter.com/portellenps/status/1253683989375856640?s=20

Link to weather forecast in Gaelic, retweeted by Sean Batty

https://twitter.com/SeanBattySTV/status/1245393179190362118?s=20

Creepy crawly maths tweet

https://twitter.com/portellenps/status/1254869348121968640?s=20

SEESAW POSTS

Early Years Port Ellen https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.b4db51f6-b272-4a88-bcb2-69b3df1ee286&share_token=bAIge6d0RtiLUIa2Rc67KQ&mode=share

Early years Bowmore https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.628ef661-43d6-4ddd-be57-f379fe71325d&share_token=mBn8pKlaS0m33qek10iAYQ&mode=share

BOWMORE TWEETS

Teddy bears picnic

https://twitter.com/BowmorePrimary/status/1265949410602766337?s=20

Sharing music talent

https://twitter.com/BowmorePrimary/status/1261316232634150912?s=20

Evaluating parachute video clip

https://twitter.com/BowmorePrimary/status/1261271607827447809?s=20

Gaelic 1-3 birdwatching

https://twitter.com/BowmorePrimary/status/1259770971306823682?s=20

Japanese art

https://twitter.com/BowmorePrimary/status/1258711972390080512?s=20

June 23, 2020

Summary of Online learning in Millburn Academy Science Faculty

Based on 217 responses June 2020

We have been using Chromebooks and G suite for a couple of years so obviously have a significant headstart over many other establishments. The reason for sharing is that this data shows digital learning can work at senior phase levels with approx 80% engagement for asynchronous, remote learning. Like all schools we anticipate higher engagement if we can move to ‘blended approach’.

Martyn.crawshaw@highlandschools.net

Tick any of the following you have completed as part of SCIENCE assignments

Which was the most easy or difficult to do?

What feedback have you had from science assignments? (tick up to two)

Examples of responses to
“Please complete the sentence “Online learning is quite good because..
● i can do it at my own pace and i don’t have to be around people
● You can complete it in your own time and spend more time on the areas that you find most difficult
● We can tackle the easy subjects first and give ourselves time to wrap our heads around the new information
● It lets us continue on with education during these difficult time
● We can still learn without being in school, albeit a little less efficiently
● It’s teaching me to be independent
● i have improved on my IT skills
● If I’m struggling I could find a video or website to help
● You get to take the time that you need to complete a task and not just moving in to the next task when the first
person has finished like school
● You learn to manage your own time
● We are able to go at our own pace and that we aren’t rushing for the bell
● Online learning is quite good because it is really easy to go back and find work I have Done and videos and
websites for revision
Examples of responses to
“Please complete the sentence “The main problem with online learning is …
● It’s given me nothing but bad vibes this entire time.
● its hard to stay focused
● it can sometimes be difficult to get help quickly
● When you’re struggling with the task and you don’t want to ask for help.
● The main problem with online learning is not being face to face with my teacher.
● sometimes the instructions arent clear enough for me at least
● The main problem with online learning is the internet side of it. [textbooks can’t stop working]
● Stuck sitting in my room all day, hard when it’s so sunny outside
● i don’t know how to use everything on the computer and i get distracted sometimes
● managing to balance our subjects and planning out when we are going to do each subjects work.
● The main problem with online learning is being bothered to get up and do the work
● Not being able to do experiments to see how it works for myself.
● Deciding when to do everything were as in school we have a set timetable
● The main problem with online learning is when teachers don’t make their instructions as to what we
are suppose clear enough.
● We can get a bit lazy at hoMe

June 22, 2020

Moray Council Instrumental Instruction Service

“Swapping Musical Instruments for Computers”

Here in Moray the small but ‘mighty’ team of instructors have been working hard to ensure our young musicians continue to have access to quality learning and teaching opportunities and instructor support during lockdown. By using Microsoft Teams instructors have been sharing challenges for their pupils to engage with in place of traditional face-to-face instruction.

Learning a musical instrument is a very practical thing: from listening carefully to a young musicians sound and offering them tips and tricks to ensure they always produce their best tone, to supporting them physically by adjusting bow holds or correcting technique etc. Remote learning will never replace in-person, face-to-face music lessons, but it can bring a whole new dimension to learning and teaching musical instruments – one which enhances our service and provides learners with lots of new opportunities to develop , improve and share their experiences.

Like many others, we faced a very steep learning curve and in the early days took our time to figure it all out. Instructors were not used to using computers as part of their daily routine and had been due to have some in-service training on GLOW in May. Having been pipped to the post and had remote working thrust upon them confidence has steadily grown and, by working collegiately, there has been lots of new learning. On our return to school buildings we’ll take with us new skills such as video editing, multi-track sound recording, knowledge and experience of various digital learning platforms and a vast library of emojis and gifs… all new skills which will benefit our young learners.

‘Over the Rainbow’, a Music Education Partnership Group (MEPG) initiative to encourage as many of Scotland’s young musicians to perform on Thursday evenings during the clap for carers, gave us the perfect opportunity to engage our pupils online. Instructors digitally edited, annotated and shared sheet music; recorded, edited and uploaded tutorial videos; and encouraged pupils to make their own sound and video recordings to share with their team. On the 30 April lots of Moray’s young musicians took to their doorsteps, not only bringing music to their quiet communities but boosting their confidence, building their resilience, and giving them opportunities to share their learning with others.

With the future in mind we look forward to developing our digital skills and enhancing our service even further by (hopefully) offering pupils video lessons; adding digital learning platforms to our learning and teaching toolkit allowing us to support our pupils between lessons by sharing tutorials etc; and empowering instructors to take ownership of digital learning and teaching in their ASGs.

Facebook: @MorayMusicCentre

Instructor Over the Rainbow video.