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I enjoyed the artistic element to Module 5 on this course. Often as a student teacher I was looking for little nuggets that would compliment my lessons through the mediums of art, exercise, music and drama. I believe the following songs, poems and examples of art could be incorporated into my future lessons about the night sky.
These are the songs I have chosen:
1. “You’re a Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay.
2. “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” by Train.
3. Moon River Andy WIlliams
4. Another Star – Stevie Wonder
5. 63 Songs About the Sun and Sunshine.
6. Theme tune to TV show 3rd Rock from The Sun
7. Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra.
8. Lucky Star” by Madonna.
9. 100 Best Songs With “Moon” in the Title
10. Video Killed the Radio Star – The Buggles
11. All of the stars – Ed Sheeran
I think that Visual Art opens a window into the Dark Sky world for teachers and particularly our students. The most popular art examples that I would incorporate into my teaching would be:
The Starry Night – Vincent van Gogh ·
Moonlight – Winslow Homer ·
Boulevard Montmartre; Night Effect –
Patricia Lemon’s Dark Skies
Finally, it’s always a wonderful way to engage students by exploring their literary nous and skills. Poetry can open so many doors into our Dark Skies.
These five poems are definitely worth considering:
A Night-Piece by William Wordsworth.
Sonnet 14 by William Shakespeare.
Ah Moon—and Star! …
Stars Over the Dordogne by Sylvia Plath.
The Starlight Night by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
I have decided to focus on the following question from Module 4 as I believe this is an extremely interesting topic: How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity?
In my experience I have always found that by giving my students hands-on, experiment or project-like activities, their engagement, enthusiasm and interest levels absolutely sky-rocket – pardon the pun for this module!
Understanding biodiversity can be made extremely accessible for our students. Recently, I read an article about David Attenborough who will be filming in Ireland. This video, when it becomes available will be a priceless resource for teachers in Ireland, something we have been crying out for years! https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/david-attenborough-on-ireland-it-must-be-seen-to-be-believed-41917147.html
This trigger will begin a discussion of the biodiversity that exists in our locality. I will give the children 5 topics from which biodiversity can be explored: Woodland, Rivers/Lakes/Oceans, Our School, Birdwatching and finally Minibeast hunting! Across these areas children could make a collage of photographs from a field trip as well as a fact-file of key facts and information about the biodiversity of their local area.
The birdwatching element will incorporate the impact of light pollution: This can focus on how certain birds only are visible at dawn/dusk or if there is a greater variety of birds visible in areas where light pollution is not as significant e.g. finches, swallows, blue tits, sparrows or starlings.The activity that I will write about in Module 3 is to ‘Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.’
This topic appealed to me as I feel it is an excellent opportunity for children and the class teacher and SNA to describe how light pollution affects different parts of the community in different ways.
Firstly, I think this lesson could begin by using the word wall in the classroom to showcase prior knowledge of what the children have learned about light pollution in previous lessons. This could be followed by a simple paired task outlining how light pollution occurs in different ways. Children could refer to light pollution they witnessed while on holidays in different parts of Ireland or in bigger European cities. I could redirect the learning by showing the children pictures of light pollution in Kilrush, Co. Clare, where I spend a lot of time on my holidays. This could trigger the children into bringing in pictures of light pollution such as large neon signs in cities to the extension of lighting along country roads. It is important to acknowledge the benefits of additional lighting such as safer walkways while also understanding how biodiversity may be affected such as certain animals retreating further into the countryside for privacy and safety.
The activity that I have chosen to focus on in this module is the following: Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be in 2024- 2025.
Once again it is important to begin this activity with a trigger or provocation. This enables the children to actively learn and assume ownership of the direction of their lesson. I would ask the children to describe when they think the best time of day it would be to observe the moon.
The video of PAXI and Our Moon supplied by ESA Paxi and Our Moon: Phases and Eclipses would be an excellent resource to use as part of this lesson as it would provide the children with an interactive and detailed account of the different phases of the moon. This video would provide opportunities for discussion and debate provided it was paused at appropriate intervals. In my experience I have seen how my students enjoy watching clips of videos as opposed to a full video in one sitting. This encourages opportunities to respond in class discussions and express their learning through note taking in KWL charts or through artistic creation.
There is clear structure provided by the Moon Observation Log which the children can also use to note their observations of the moon over a prolonged period of time. I really look forward to implementing these activities in the year ahead.Hi Elizabeth,
This is an incredible list of resources all compiled into the one post. It is hugely helpful. I too will be adding this to my resource bank. A Spaceman cam Travelling is a wonderful song to use coming into the Christmas period. I always feel that Fantastic Mr Fox is an incredibly captivating tale that children adore.
Hi Siobhán,
Integrating Art is such a creative and practical way of children expressing their understanding of Biodiversity. It fosters creativity as well as ensuring an enjoyable element of a lesson is explored and celebrated. It also develops Pupil voice and leadership capacity as children feel that their creativity could lead to positive change in the school environment.
Hi Lyndsy,
This is a very interesting post. The use of the NSW video on Light pollution is an excellent resource to use with your students. Involving local wildlife in the discussion is an excellent way to grab the interest of students as they can easily identify with the impact on animals straight away.
The activity that I have chosen in this assignment is Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”.
This is a really interesting activity that I am looking forward to doing with my class this year. I would begin the lesson by asking the students to write down in a KWL Chart what they know about the sun and what questions they would have as to what they would like to know about the sun.
I really like using Provocation videos to really get the children thinking about a new topic. This would be a great opportunity to look at how mankind has observed the sun, used it in order to develop a sense of time and the history of its relevance in Ireland such as at Newgrange during the solstices.
This activity could be attempted for a three-week period during September, December, March and June. The children would work in a group of 4-6 to record the different stages of sunrise and sunset depending on the time of year. One such observation could also be when the sun shines into the classroom window and how this differs throughout the year.
Hi Seán,
This is a really nice lesson to do with your students. There are very obvious cross-curricular links and opportunities involved here and I agree with your statement that this would be very useful for students when observing the moon. I like how you have designated roles for different students in the lesson also.
Hi Elizabeth,
I really like the idea of using a trigger question. This can create a superb start to a lesson as it grabs the attention of the students immediately. The creation of a sundial is something the students would be really interested in. Construction of a unit of measurement provides opportunities for creativity.
Supporting inclusion is something I am extremely passionate about as an educator. We are seeing such a range of needs presenting in our classrooms now and it is vital we tailor our lessons to support our students as much as possible. The activity I have chosen to support inclusion is the use of voice typing. I think this is an incredible resource that needs to be utilised as much as possible. It fosters conversation – something that with the incorrect use of digital technology can have a detrimental affect on the communication skills of our students as well as creating barrier to oral language development. Children would love the idea of sending a voice message and listening to their peers.
A school should be a hive of conversation and collaboration. The yard, the classroom and the school hall are places of social interaction where communication skills need to be encouraged and celebrated. Children are not confident in speaking to a group or in front of a classroom would benefit from using voice typing, hearing what they and their peers say and thus engaging in self-assessment. In terms of the SSE process, this is something that can be targeted at whole school level – Using Digital Technology practically and efficiently to foster conversation as well as developing confidence and oral language skills.The following learning sequence is targeted at supporting children in a small group setting who require additional support from a special education teacher.
The topic that I have chosen is the Romans and the class level is 5th class.
This topic would be pre-taught in a withdrawal setting before it is covered at whole class level. The idea behind this is to enable those who require additional support to feel confident and capable when a new topic is being introduced in the classroom with their mainstream class teacher. We would begin with the use of a KWL Google doc. This would encourage collaboration about the topic between the group. It would beneficial for the students if I, the teacher, scaffolded by adding some of my own prior knowledge.
Children are so often visual learners and this cannot be ignored. Youtube, Scoilnet and Brittanica Online provides amazing resources. These would be used for children to learn about some of the questions they will pose in their KWL charts.
This type of lesson creates clarity and purpose for students who will not feel intimidated or lack in confidence when the topic is being taught. It supports SSE as it is providing students with opportunities to reflect before the lesson is taught at whole class level. It also offers unique opportunities for peer and self-assessment that are invaluable for students and teachers alikeThere are a number of ways in which I can start to use Digital Technology in my classroom in the year ahead that will enhance students learning. Google workspace has so many features and tools that are practical for using in a classroom setting. I really like the use of Google Docs and Google slides for group/pair projects. At times there can be so many new programmes or ideas thrown at teachers that it becomes overwhelming. Google docs and slides provide teachers with easy to use, child friendly resources that can extend learning for high achievers, support creative writing for children who require scaffolding as well as encouraging teamwork and resilience by creating a space for collaboration.
In the year ahead, I would like to create a Folder in Google Classroom for children to add their Google Slide projects as the year progresses. This would act as an e-portfolio where students could edit, update, review and complete final drafts before submissions. It would also encourage students to stick to a timeline with their project work.Hi Darragh,
This is a fascinating digital story that you created. I am a huge fan of Ancient Egypt and it is a topic I really enjoy teaching but also learning about myself! It is a good link to your previous activity also regarding your Google Form. This provides teachers and learners with an alternative way of exploring the culture and traditions and customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
I think your second paragraph is an excellent summation of the benefits of Slides when used correctly with your students.
Please see a link to my forms assessment about County Towns of Ireland – suitable for a senior class studying the county towns of Ireland in September. I think with such a focus on finding new ways to teach new topics we can at times forget our sense of place. It is important our students understand the various aspects of Geography, History and Culture of Ireland. This assessment focuses on different towns of Ireland ranging from inland to coastal and in the different provinces.