Monthly Archives: January 2017

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‘Beebot’ Balooba!

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I know what you’re thinking – What on Earth is Beebot? Well Beebot is one of many available programmable toys out there that can be used in the classroom. It allows you to pre-program navigational instructions before pressing go and watching it follow out your commands.

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In a classroom, this can cause some ‘buzz‘ amongst the children, and they will enthuse to use the devices. Beebot can be used for a multitude of lessons, from maths to literacy – and of course technology.

“I am developing problem solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills as I play and learn with electronic games, remote control or programmable toys”

TCH 0-09a/TCH 1-09a

 

Starting in primary school, children from all backgrounds and every part of the UK should have the opportunity to: learn some of the key ideas of computer science; understand computational thinking; learn to program; and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of excellence in these activities.

– John Naughton (2012)

From the point of view of a class teacher, Beebot can prove to be an invaluable resource, and can lead to fantastic and creative lesson ideas. Whilst working with Christopher, we decided to create a literacy lesson based on the book ‘Whoosh Around The Mulberry Bush‘ by Jan Ormerod. We drew a grid map of different scenes from a book, where as we read the book, we intended to ask the children to program Beebot to the next scene.

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Copyright – Mr Ewing & Mr McCrone – 2017

With resources such as this readily available, and with a generation moving towards an expanding digital era; Lessons can always be more technical, more exciting, more cross-curricular. But most of all; more personalised.

Talk soon,
Sean

Development, General

I Just Can’t Blog Off!

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So over the last few days, I have really focussed on setting up this blog and fixing up all of the loose ends I hadn’t got around to customising (such as the icon in the URL bar and browser tab). It’s crazy, blogging was never something I had ever been interested in; but after setting up this blog, I feel attached to it.

So the last few days, I have been logged in for extended periods of time. Taking this blog seriously has come about purely because I enjoy the Digital Technologies module and am excited to share how it spans across my teacher training. But not only that, by familiarising myself with Glow Blogs now, I will be able to share my knowledge with my learners in my class, and should be able to teach it efficiently.

Also, on my journey to a digital classroom, I have been spending time creating interactive lessons related to Maths, so I can bank them – making them readily available for when I need them. All the maths lessons I have made relate directly to the CfE outcomes.

I will continue to share my journey with you all.

Until next time,
Sean

General

Stop! It’s Yammer time!!

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Our latest exploration in class was looking further at the opportunities that Glow has to offer for teachers and online environments. These include Glow Wikis, OneDrive and of course Yammer – and that’s just to name a few.

OneDrive is used more for sharing and co-collaborating work with other educators, but it also gives you access to software such as Word and PowerPoint online. This is useful if working off of a tablet or any other mobile device. My favourite thing about OneDrive it that it allows you to store files online, so you don’t need to stress about finding your pen drive if you lose it.

Glow Wikis is really useful as a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) where you can securely set assignments for your class, let them work on a project, post for help and all whilst you’re able to monitor their engagement in the Wiki with the click of a mouse! Also, it is a safe and monitored environment that you control who does and doesn’t have access to it. It also includes a calendar so your class would know what events are happening and when – so no more excuses!

My favourite app that I have found Glow to host is Yammer. It is very, very similar to the likes of Facebook, but it is a secure environment within Education where the children and parents can interact safely. Within your class group, you can announce things that are upcoming or important as well as the ability to praise pupils in what looks similar to a status update. As well as being able to chat with one another.  I really like Yammer because of the layout and the easy-to-use functionality of the app. I think it is fair to say I will definitely use Yammer with my classes in the future. When we look at CfE, it reads like this:

“I am developing my knowledge and use of safe and acceptable conduct as I use different technologies to interact and share experiences, ideas and information with others” –

TCH 1-08a/TCH 2-08a

This shows that there is a place for Yammer in the classroom as it helps cover this particular outcome.

I would say that I am confident using Glow and exploring the different apps it has to offer. Through Glow. I can become a huge leap towards a digital classroom and one step closer to helping my learners become more digitally literate. Through exploring this strength and wealth of apps at my disposal, I can create and maintain a virtual classroom environment – readily available to assist my learners.

Talk soon,
Sean

Yammer

Development

A Place for Interactive Technology in Classrooms

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Whilst in the classroom, an invaluable resource to teachers is software such as ‘ActivInspire’. It allows pupils to learn and engage with their learning on a whole new level. To make full advantage, myself and another teaching student were tasked to co-collaberate an interactive lesson to inspire young learners. We decided to create a mathematics lesson focussing around money (MNU-0-09a). Reflecting back to this activity, it is clear that this software will prove to be a resource that I will rely on heavily – but why use it?

Not only does it engage the learners, but it provides them with something they can use too; and enjoy using it. It can provide captivating lessons that otherwise would not be as effective, and making sure you get the most of the children’s attention.

The one disadvantage to ‘on the board’ technology, is that not all of the children can physically use it at the same time. Nevertheless, I’ve started creating lessons and banking them for the future – As I know this resource will be invaluable to my teaching and I hope they will make me a more effective teacher.

General

Why is my reflective blog important?

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To become the best teacher that you could possible be – it is important to constantly evaluate your own skills and to be able to reflect on your weaknesses. By reflecting on my skills within digital technology, I am identifying areas of strength and weakness in order to improve on both areas in the hope of making my classroom an active learning environment – and also in the hope of helping my class become more digitally able and digitally literate.

I hope you will enjoy reading my reflections as you follow me on my journey to self improvement.

Talk soon,
Sean