Try out these fantastic sites for resources you can use in school. The Woodlands one has great stuff on literacy that classroom assts, teachers, pupils and parents can use at home. Both sites are something to aspire to and I hope that the direction and commitment shown by East Lothian can eventually provide our youngsters with similar resources. Try them out and let your staff know about them, use them as a benchmark for future work and publish yours here on exc-el.
http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/index.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/index.html
Last week, well what there was of it I was covering the P4 class and teaching the kids how to make animated movies which will appear on the P4 section of our website. I was very impressed with their ability to listen, learn and do. They all made an individual movie based on their own very creative ideas. If you haven’t tried this out you should it is quite easy and it is a joy to see the pupils express themselves in a very interactive and creative way. In this series of lessons the pupils were able to demonstrate the four areas of a curriculum for excellence. As successful learners they showed openness to new thinking and ideas by thinking creatively, comminicating and using technology for learning. They showed new levels of confidence in achieving success in a different area of activity. As efective contributors they learned to communicate in different ways and were able to create and develop ideas.
This curriculum for excellence isn’t so scary after all!
We also used the execellent Collins Virtual Experiments CD-ROM on the interactive whiteboard to explore magnetism and other forces such as gravity, air, water and solid surface resistance and to apply critical thinking skills to our science lesson. I also took the opportunity to use some formative assessment techinques by using talking pairs and no hands up to discuss and report back on the problems and questions posed during the lessons. The more I use these techiques the more I am convinced that they are the way forward in our clasrooms, I also believe that these techniques also start to address the issues surrounding boys and attainment. I will explain more when my research has more substance and body in this area.
Monday
Two staff off, we manage to get cover for P4 and I take the P6 class. I decide to carry on the work on formative assessment and try to get the opportunity to use talking pairs again. I use the Heehaw interactive CD-ROMs on Scottish History (Mary Queen of Scots) and have similar highly successful results with a few boys who have posed problems throughout their time at school. The results are consistent and impressive. They get a Drama lesson from a specialist teacher from break to lunch and do very well. This is active learning which seems to suit boys anyway, they all respond well and produce good, creative work. In the afternoon I attend my PECOS approver training which is OK and not scary. Later on I attend Musselburgh Burgh School to do some training in my Team Teach trainer capacity up to 5 o’clock. It goes very well and I am yet again struck by the commitment of staff who have to deal with incredibly difficult situations that must take a toll on their mental and physical health. I personally have doubts that I could maintain the level of professionalism and commitment when faced with the difficulties our most troubled yougsters display on sometimes hourly or more frequent basis.
Tuesday
Three staff off. I stay in P6 and carry on with work on the interactive whiteboard continuing with my work on formative assessment techniques. The pupils respond very well and the feelings I have regarding the sharing of learning outcomes and talking pairs etc. is reinforced. The pupils have a French lesson with Mrs Swan, she used the interactive board and some software whci motivates the pupils and they do work that didn’t even exist a science fiction when I was their age. We underestimate the advances in many areas unless we reflect on how things have moved on since the fifties and sixties. Still a good teacher is still a good teacher. In the afternoon all of the pupils take part in a dance workshop led by a male professional dancer from Dunbar. It is fantastic and if I didn’t have a dodgy knee……………. The whole session is a model of inclusiveness, all of the pupils took part and showed all the signs of real pleasure and enjoyment. The rest of the afternoon was a disaster as I tried to use the internet live in class to show the kids how to use wiki pages on our web site. I tried three dry runs during lunch and everything worked perfectly, add and audience and it all went pear shaped. Well, time to revisit another day grrrrrrrrr.
Wednesday
Everyone is fit and healthy and I am 52 years old today! Fantastic, that means a nice meal and a good bottle of wine as a reward for surviving thus far. Tommorrow I will be in Stirling Management Centre doing some work with Learning and Teaching Scotland. I must remember to not volunteer for anything, I am singularly bad at saying and meaning no to such requests.
Result- a P6 pupil just came into my office to say that she has joined up to our wiki page on the Nuclear Debate. Moa Tse Tung once said a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, how true.
I was right, after the darkness there shall be light! Even for old codgers.
But you knew that Latin phrase anyway.
