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Hi Shane,
The lesson you have described is extremely well suited to the needs of a third class pupil with dyslexia. It really shows how the carefully planned use of digital technologies can be transformative for a pupil with a specific learning difficulty. Pobble365 is a great resource for providing a stimulus for writing genres. ‘Once Upon A Picture’ is another really good website for this. Your use of the ‘Dictate’ feature really allows a dyslexic learner to access the writing process in a much easier fashion, which will improve their self-esteem and their attainment of learning outcomes.
Hi Sabrina,
As you have said ‘less can often be more’ when it comes to digital technology integration. We are often consumed with doing as much as we can and trying out lots of different tools. However, having a few staple ‘go-to’ programmes can often be more effective. In many ways it’s about working smarter rather than harder. Prioritising this through SSE is the perfect opportunity for a school to plan in this way and to allow for meaningful and thoughtful integration of ICT’s.
Hi Ciara,
Welcome to the course. I think that, pound for pound, ‘Forms’ is my favourite Google tool. I love it’s simplicity and how it can be used with any class on any device. The variety of questions you can ask and the ability to add different forms of media into your questions helps to create dynamic assessments. In addition to this, the self-grading is a real timesaver and the data analysis allows me to see exactly what students / what areas need extra attention. Being able to provide both generalised and individualised feedback can really help to personalise and extend learning. There will be more content on ‘Forms’ as you move through the course.
Hi James,
One of the main things I have taken from your post is the need for ‘joined up thinking’ when it comes to planning for digital technology integration. This is no easy task, and even with a digital learning team it can be difficult to get everyone moving in the same direction at the same speed. A good first step may be to survey staff and students about what they use their ‘device time’ for. Having some form of structured activities that the whole school engage in during this time can help to break down barriers. It can produce a level of accountability with school staff. Agreeing on what activities constitute effective learning experiences with digital technologies is also an important discussion to have as a staff.
Hi Patricia,
I think you touch on a very important point here when you speak about modelling the skill. It is somewhat naïve to think that the skill would just come naturally to children, and therefore modelling and covering of specific teaching points is of utmost importance. Gradually releasing different levels of responsibility and gradually increasing the intensive of the collaboration is also important. You have alluded to this in your post when speaking about ‘Think, Pair, Share’ and talk and discussion around what good/bad collaboration looks like.
The collaborative digital story you have mentioned sounds like a lovely idea and would certainly build on the ground work you have carried out, whilst also developing a 21st century skill.
Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the course. You have really hit on some of the main benefits of using Sway. The beauty of it is in its simplicity. Adding images directly is a huge timesaver, as we all know the pain of searching images, copying them and then having to resize, etc. within our document or presentation. I really like your idea for a seasonal newsletter than could evolve into a more regular publication. The great thing about this is that you will have time to plan and work on it as a type of ‘trial’. By not committing to publishing a monthly newsletter through Sway initially you give yourself the opportunity to see how the children can work with it, and if it’s something they would be able to keep up with.
Hi Sabrina,
As you’ve said, Teams is so much more than a medium for video calling and information sharing. There are so many educational benefits that can support teaching and learning in the classroom. In my opinion, students in senior classes could go much further in their learning than they could through the use of Seesaw. You have mentioned the different levels of confidence and awareness among staff in this area. This is very true and it puts a premium on strong leadership and internal CPD. Through this, it would be possible to share your school’s bespoke vision for digital technologies and how Office 365 can be used to get you there. Appropriate and targeted training can then be provided to those who need it.
Hi Lauren,
The ‘dictate’ feature is an excellent one and one that really helps students with literacy difficulties and EAL students. I find that it can make the ‘writing’ process much less daunting and bring out some creativity with these pupils. It also promotes forming speech correctly and orally using the correct sentence structure. Similar features are also available on the iPad keyboard and within Google Docs.
Your reflective piece really speaks to the need for continued professional development and that of teacher’s being ‘lifelong learning’. By constantly engaging in reflection we are identifying strengths and weaknesses within our practice. It is then our responsibility as teachers to learn or upskill in these areas so that we can deliver the best experience possible for our students.
Hi Patrice,
It’s clear that you expose your students to plenty of different ICT’s in the classroom. Designing learning opportunities that enable our students to work as problem-solvers, knowledge constructors, etc. is the key. I think we need to move away from the passive use of digital technologies to a more active use. Essentially pupils would be creating content rather than consuming content with digital technologies. Having such a god base will stand you in good stead when attempting to plan for and design these learning experiences.
Hi Clare,
It’s clear that you engaged with a wide range of useful Google tools when working as an SET during periods of remote teaching. Much of the content you experienced in this module will be geared towards older children, but you will still be able to apply all of the ‘teacher functions’ of Classroom in a junior infant room. A useful digital storytelling app that can added as an ‘add on’ by your school admin is Adobe Spark Video (now called Adobe Creative Cloud Express). This is really user-friendly and the app deals exclusively with video making. I used it a lot with 1st class over the past few years and they were easily able to navigate it.
Hi Michael,
Welcome to the course. MyMaps is something that I have started using over the past year and find brilliant in the classroom. I generally use it for history and tracking the location of journeys/events in history. It is effective for comparing events in Irish history, e.g. the fighting that took place in the Easter Rising v the War of Independence. They can them compare the areas of the fighting and make deductions/inferences based on this. There is huge opportunities for skill development across geography, history and maths within this tool.
Hi Clare,
Welcome to the course! This sounds like an excellent idea. As a junior infant teacher this sounds like it could be quite labour-intensive on you. Potentially the use of a tablet with the ‘Classroom’ app installed would make it an easier task. Using it to document learning in Aistear is a wonderful assessment tool and would promote language development around your themes both at home and in school. The Google Teacher’s Centre has so many short courses that can be greatly improve our work with Google products in the classroom.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your post. I really like the way you have mentioned how digital technologies could be used to improve differentiation in your classroom. I find this to be one of the key benefits of their integration. I like the way in which the differentiation is ‘invisible’, in that every child is working off the same device. They are unaware that some groups of children have a modified task and this really helps to boost self-esteem. Extensions like ‘Immersive Reader’ are also a huge benefit for those who are struggling with literacy or in the ’emergent reader’ phase.
Hi Patrick,
It has been great to see that you have found the SSE and DLF guidelines useful for self-assessing your own practice. I find that ‘highly effective’ practice is a standard that is difficult to achieve, so it’s great you are touching on it in some areas.
Your description of the Mathletics program has really intrigued me. It sounds like a programme that would be very useful for teaching learners of all abilities. The provision of immediate feedback also sounds good. We use a programme called ‘Accelerated Reader’ for reading and based on your description, it seems like it works in a similar way for reading.
Hi Patrick,
Welcome to the course. It is clear that, from engaging with the module content, you have a good idea of how both Sway and Forms could be utilised within your classroom. You have highlighted the main advantages of Forms there – I often get told that ‘it must take a long time to make one of those’. However, when you take into account the time spent at a photocopier, stapling, collecting, correcting and inputting results into a book, I can guarantee that there is no difference in the amount of time taken.
The beauty of the Forms quiz is that it can be re-used each year and that the data is so much easier to interpret.
