[Myriam Gately]

Module 5- Take two! (Apologies for  garbled first submission)

Link to Sway:

The stated vision of the Primary Curriculum Framework 2022 is that every child would be provided with a strong foundation so they could thrive, flourish and realise their full potential. This paper posits that in order to meet the challenges of 21st century life, education, how it is delivered and the skills required must be rethought and reimagined.

21st century skills including collaboration, communication, knowledge construction, real-world problem solving and the use of IT are identified as necessary skills which will enable  the children of today be successful tomorrow as adults. Self-regulation, long recognised as a skill of successful people in all walks of life is also listed as a 21st century must have:

Self-regulation involves children developing the ability to regulate their emotions, thoughts and behaviours to enable them to act in positive ways towards a goal.

It is useful for all educators to be aware of some models that can be used to support children to learn to self-regulate. Dr Bruce Perry’s model; regulate, relate, reason is just one example. Schools may like to adopt a model and employ this through the school. Restorative Practice is commonly used in Irish schools and this supports self-regulation.

Teaching children mindfulness and relaxation techniques is another way to support teh development of self-regulation. The example listed in the DE/NEPs document Self-Regulation for Pupils – A Guide for Staff  is an accessible and useful resource.

Stories and videos which explore incidences where self-regulation was relevant are also useful and there are myriad examples on Youtube and books available on Amazon.

With the importance of self-regulation noted it is worth remembering that  ‘excellence in teaching is the most powerful influence on student achievement’ (LAOS, 2022) it follows therefore that good CPD and pre-service education is crucial if our children are to be successful in the future.

 

 

[Myriam Gately]

The use of Digital Technology is one of the ways forward for 21st century teaching and learning, however it is only one of the ways- communication, collaboration, knowledge construction etc are as important and should be fostered in our classrooms too.  The uses of DT to enhance learning are many in this course I have learned about Sway and OneNote as well as about some of the uses of Office 365 as a tool for support T & L in our classrooms. DT can be used for the introduction of materials even via Google, for generating worksheets and for developing forms/quizzes/questionnaires for evaluation. DT can also support busy teachers by diagnosing areas of difficulty, maintaining records of progress on many of the reading and maths packages used in schools today. Another consideration when using DT is that it doesn’t run out of patience and will happily go over and over things again and again if that is what is required for a pupil to learn.

SSE has been in schools for a number of years and is employed purposefully and successfully by many. As a currently non-teaching teacher I can understand the pressure on ISM, in particular on principals to engage in SSE in tandem with all the other tasks they must undertake- again the answer I think is ‘one bite at a time.’

I like the way the documents from the DE link in with each other and that the DT Framework is supported by the LAOS 2022 document.  I think that an product of Covid was that DT became part of school life in a necessary and practical way. Schools and pupils engaged with DT as a means to support T & L not just as a tick the box that the children had used a tablet. Teachers who are now familiar with many aspects of DT will incorporate DT into lessons in meaningful ways, using it to address areas identified in the SSE process as being in need of attention- that is what I plan to do!

[Myriam Gately]

OneNote can be a really useful tool for educators and pupils. It can be used to store plans, notes, working documents and all types of information.

The students and work together on a project in real time from home etc if the document is stored on OneNote – this would be very useful if we had another Covid outbreak! Audio can be recorded on One Note and there are numerous supports for pupils with additional needs including the immersive reader which is a wonderful tool to support inclusion. Teachers can also see which pupils contributed to which section by using ‘show author’. A Notebook can be shared with only a certain cohort of children who are working on a particular project. Teachers can also do maths questions on OneNote and annotate images. OneNote can be developed and grow from year to year – and there is less likelihood of losing it than a folder!

OneNote can be overwhelming as it has so many functions and possible applications so I think it is best to take one step at a time when learning to use it. I noted that I couldn’t move a section from one Notebook to another I had to copy and paste a section and then delete it from the private Notebook.

Link to Notebook

[Myriam Gately]

<p class=”MsoNormal”><span lang=”EN-GB” style=”mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;”> Take Two Module Two!</span></p>
Microsoft Teams seems like a wonderful resource for teachers to share resources, ideas etc with each other online.

I can see that in larger schools where there are multiple classes in each year all the fourth class teachers could have a Team and share resources, preparation for T & L etc with other 4th class teachers.

Links to previously generated Forms and Quizzes could be stored in the 4th class Teams files and used as required. This resource could be built on over the years.

If a year group was working on a policy for let’s say maths teaching in 4th class all the 4th class teachers could work on the document simultaneously and edit in real time from their homes
<p class=”MsoNormal”><span lang=”EN-GB” style=”mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;”>Homework can be assigned to pupils, feedback given and a record of results maintained.</span></p>
Possible challenges: It would be important to remember not to have duplicate team names and to set up naming conventions early on in the introduction to Teams.

Pupils working on a particular project could have a channel where they share ideas and work together whilst maintaining a record of their work safe from the eyes of their classmates until ‘the big reveal’.
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Microsoft Teams has a huge bank of resources to support its use in education. I was interested in the examples of the Learning Accelerators including Coach.</p>
Link to video here

[Myriam Gately]

<span style=”color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>Sway:</span><span style=”color: #163c42; font-family: Hind Madurai, sans-serif;”><span style=”font-size: 12px;”>https://sway.office.com/z7Q0K3L5AQUC4HGZ?ref=Link</span></span&gt;

<span style=”color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>Review the paper </span>‘Redesigning Education: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century’ <span style=”color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>(Hallissy, Butler, Marshall, Hurley, 2013) and consider what learning should look like in today’s classrooms so learners are ready and equipped for the workplaces of tomorrow and develop the necessary (21st Century) skills.</span>
<p class=”MsoNormal”><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #333333; background: white;”>The vision of the Primary Curriculum Framework 2022</span> is that every child would be provided with a strong foundation so they could thrive, flourish and realise their full potential.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”>  </span>This paper posits that in order to meet the challenges of 21^st century living, education, how it is delivered and the skills required must be rethought.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #333333; background: white;”>21^st century skills including collaboration, communication, knowledge construction real -world problem solving and the use of IT are identified as crucial skills which will enable the children of today to be successful tomorrow as adults. Self-regulation, long recognised as a skill of successful people in all walks of life is also listed as a 21^st century must have. </span></p>
<p class=”MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst” style=”text-indent: -18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;”><!– [if !supportLists]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; color: #202124;”><span style=”mso-list: Ignore;”>£<span style=”font: 7.0pt ‘Times New Roman’;”>  </span></span></span><!–[endif]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #202124; background: white;”>Self-regulation </span><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #040c28;”>involves children’s developing the ability to regulate their emotions, thoughts and behaviour to enable them to act in positive ways toward a goal</span><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #202124; background: white;”><span style=”font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; word-spacing: 0px;”>.</span></span></p>
<p class=”MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle” style=”text-indent: -18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;”><!– [if !supportLists]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’;”><span style=”mso-list: Ignore;”>£<span style=”font: 7.0pt ‘Times New Roman’;”>  </span></span></span><!–[endif]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif;”>It is useful for all educators to be aware of some models that can be used to support children to self-regulate Dr Bruce Perry’s model, regulate, relate, reason is just one example. Schools may like to adopt one model and employ this throughout the school.</span></p>
<p class=”MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle” style=”text-indent: -18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;”><!– [if !supportLists]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’;”><span style=”mso-list: Ignore;”>£<span style=”font: 7.0pt ‘Times New Roman’;”>  </span></span></span><!–[endif]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif;”>Teaching children mindfulness and relaxation techniques is another way to support the development of self-regulation. The example listed in the DE/NEP’s document Self-regulation for Pupils – a Guide for Staff is accessible and practical.</span></p>
<p class=”MsoListParagraphCxSpLast” style=”text-indent: -18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;”><!– [if !supportLists]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Wingdings 2’;”><span style=”mso-list: Ignore;”>£<span style=”font: 7.0pt ‘Times New Roman’;”>  </span></span></span><!–[endif]–><span style=”font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif;”>Stories and videos which explore incidences where self-regulation was relevant are also helpful and there are myriad examples available on YouTube and Amazon.com.</span></p>

[Myriam Gately]

Link to a brief experimental Sway: https://sway.office.com/JN5P4saL1ufGRMUc?ref=Link

Loved experimenting with Sway. It seems to be an accessible and fun way to make a presentation quickly that looks good and is easy for children and teachers to work with.

It could be used for reports on field trips, for projects, for writing and illustrating stories, for a sixth-class end of year event -the list is endless. I imagine as one became more familiar with it the possibilities for use would expand.

Forms are quite like Google Forms but the main difference I have noted so far is that there are better themes and formats available in Forms. Children will find the colour and variety in Forms appealing. Goggle Forms are widely used in education and beyond and Forms can be put to the same uses including for assessment, for surveys, for feedback, for evaluations. Forms will support AoL and AfL and can be developed to be  presented in interesting and attention grabbing formats. Forms could be employed at the beginning of the year as a Getting to Know You exercise or to support the introduction in maths to graphs/pie-charts as a Form could be share with the children asking a variety of questions and then graphs could be generated from the responses.

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