I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in creative and engaging ways.
TCH 1-04b / TCH 2-04b
This year I’m responsible for delivering French and ICT as a McCrone subject throughout the school. I borrowed the I Can Animate kit last term, and used it to create animations with classes at the P4 and P5 stages.
Our School Show was Alice in Wonderland, so children were asked to animate a scene from the story.
Children were asked to:
– work together as a group
– decide on a scene to animate
– create a backdrop for their scene
– make plasticine models of their characters
– explore and experiment with I Can Animate software to create a short clip
Children had great fun creating their movies, and found the software very easy to use.
Background
I used the flips cameras with my P2/3 class across a variety of curricular areas to aid peer and self assessment.
Impact on Teaching and Learning
Literacy
The children used the cameras to record each other doing a paired fluency read on the second day of their reading programme. I then played the recordings back on the smartboard and used them to model and discuss how to improve reading and give feedback to their partner concentrating on pace, expression etc. This helped the children have a clearer idea when giving feedback to their partner.
Interdiscplinary Learning
The whole school had been learning about The Far East as an interdisciplinary project. As part of the assessment of this I asked the children to show their understanding by fliming each other talking about what they had learned. This was a good way of assessing the knowledge of the less able children who often struggle with written tasks. Some of these video clips were then used to make a cross school DVD which was shown to children and parents.
PE
The children filmed each other’s gymnastics sequences and then self assessed using the success criteia. They then tried to improve their performance based on their self assessment. The children really enjoyed this and found it was benefical. Quite often they had thought they were bending their knees to land etc. but when they watched it back realised that they weren’t.
Impact/Conclusion
I found the flips really beneficial across the curriculum. I did have some problems, however, playing back the video on some of the computers.
Background – This year I am teaching a primary 1 class. The children are developing their reading skills and the focus just now is ‘reading with expression’. Included in the class is a child with elective mutism, (undiagnosed), who has never spoken to adults either in her 2 years nursery experience or since starting school.
How ICT supported learning – A group of 7 children were instructed to video each other while reading with a focus on reading for expression. I left the children in the open area while I worked with the remaining groups. On playing back the videos through the Smart board the class watched and talked about the way each was reading. I was then amazed and delighted to hear the child who had not spoken, reading to her partner.
Impact -The FLIP camera has provided a wonderful opportunity for all the children to demonstrate their reading skills and to talk about good reading skills and how to improve theirs. However the greatest impact was concerning the child whom I had never heard speak. Firstly she now knows I am aware she can speak. Moreover I had been very concerned about how I would assess her and this could provide an appropriate medium for assessment. I feel this camera could provide an essential tool to open up the child’s ability to communicate.
We initially borrowed a box of 9 NIntendo DS to use in our Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club. When they arrived we tried out the Brain Training games and found how useful they would be during maths to promote recall of facts and to help children to revise number processes. They were timetabled during all active maths lessons throughout the school and children loved using them. They concentrated more, stayed focussed longer and were keen to use them.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “I liked the DS because you got to play brain games. ” “There were great challenges and you got to test yourself.”
WE borrowed a box of 7 iPod Touch to use in our new ‘Gadgets and Gizmos Golden Time Club.’ However, we found they already had many applications we could use in other curricular areas also. We used the French Lite app to help with consolidation of basic vocabulary and also to allow children to listen to words being repeated as they were able to use the headphones. The maths apps were put to very good use in many active maths lessons, where they helped with recall of facts, times tables, time and all of the number processes.
Here are some of the children’s comments. “Really fun because you touched the screen to make it work and I had never used one before.” It was more fun than writing the answers in your jotter.” “You had to get the answers right because the teacher heard the noise it made when it was wrong.” “It made me work faster to answer more questions to get to the next level.”
