When I was a student there was very little use of ICT as a learning tool. The only use of ICT that I saw when I was in primary school was when we had to use the computers to type up a project, or to research something on encarta, I can't remember much use of the internet. We also used it to play games during wet day timetables and free time. In high school we used the computers to research, to type, and when we were taught IT in year 7 and eight we spent alot of time on Mavis Beacon learning how to type and making spreadsheets on excel. The only other use of technology that I regulary saw was the use of the projector and many of the older teachers had no idea how the technology worked at all and had to get the students to help them, simple things like turning up the volume could be baffling. Actually I lie there was also a system that allowed teachers to make a quiz, all the students would be handed a remote and then they could answer the questions like in a game show.
I have now spent two weeks at my local primary school in various classrooms and I have seen alot of technology in use. Most of the classrooms are equipted with interactive whitboards, the classrooms that aren't have a big screen that can be used interactively, you just can't write on it.
On the days that I spent in 'Miss Crowther's' 3/4 class I saw her use the Interactive Board/Screen each day for maths activities and blogging.
At the moment the 3/4's are concentrating on skip counting in maths. Their lesson starts off with a fluency activity which may be an individual task or one reqiring a partner. 'Miss Crowther' gathers the students around one of the tables in a 'fishbowl' and demonstrates what they are to do. She will then give them some time to do this activity before she gathers them together again to seperate them into their maths groups and give them their task. Afterwards she will then get the students to disccuss the different strategies they used, where they had trouble and go over what they have learnt. Sometime during this lesson either before they seperate into their groups or during the share time they might play an interactive game on the screen. All the students will have a chance to come up to the sceen themselves or to give an answer. I loved watching them do this they all were very enthusiastic and everyone participated. The two sites that I saw in use were:
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/
and
Ictgames.com
'Miss Crowther's class also had a blog were the two 3/4 teachers wrote posts about what they are doing in class. The students also had the chance to post comments on the blog and on the blogs of other students. This seemed very popular and in reading time where the students got to pick a book to read freely several students were on the computer reading blogs. In writing they are concentrating on how to write are reply to a blog and what makes a good blog comment. They would then spend some time analysing some of the comments that their teacher and other teachers and students had posted before going off to write their own responses to a post that another class somewhere around the world had published.
Before seeing this class in action I had not really considered blogging as an activity to be do in schools. Now I can see how benificial it is and how interested the kids are in blogging. It keeps them connected with other students around the country and the world which can then lead to learning about other countries not only on a factual level but on a personal level.
On the days that I spent in 'Miss Crowther's' 3/4 class I saw her use the Interactive Board/Screen each day for maths activities and blogging.
At the moment the 3/4's are concentrating on skip counting in maths. Their lesson starts off with a fluency activity which may be an individual task or one reqiring a partner. 'Miss Crowther' gathers the students around one of the tables in a 'fishbowl' and demonstrates what they are to do. She will then give them some time to do this activity before she gathers them together again to seperate them into their maths groups and give them their task. Afterwards she will then get the students to disccuss the different strategies they used, where they had trouble and go over what they have learnt. Sometime during this lesson either before they seperate into their groups or during the share time they might play an interactive game on the screen. All the students will have a chance to come up to the sceen themselves or to give an answer. I loved watching them do this they all were very enthusiastic and everyone participated. The two sites that I saw in use were:
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/
and
Ictgames.com
'Miss Crowther's class also had a blog were the two 3/4 teachers wrote posts about what they are doing in class. The students also had the chance to post comments on the blog and on the blogs of other students. This seemed very popular and in reading time where the students got to pick a book to read freely several students were on the computer reading blogs. In writing they are concentrating on how to write are reply to a blog and what makes a good blog comment. They would then spend some time analysing some of the comments that their teacher and other teachers and students had posted before going off to write their own responses to a post that another class somewhere around the world had published.
Before seeing this class in action I had not really considered blogging as an activity to be do in schools. Now I can see how benificial it is and how interested the kids are in blogging. It keeps them connected with other students around the country and the world which can then lead to learning about other countries not only on a factual level but on a personal level.
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