Visit and lesson observation at Plymouth Grove Primary School
13/09/2012 - School visit to Plymouth Grove Primary School. Here we observed a science lesson with Yr1 children. They were continuing their learning on the differences between light and dark and how we can tell the difference between the two. We then took 3 children between 4 trainee teachers and spent 20 minutes interacting with them. We provoked discussion on what they know about light, dark and shadows this proved to be beneficial for child and trainee in eliciting what the child had learned and what they could discover through creating their own figures for making shadows.
The link here shows the blog posted about this fantastic session. Thank you Plymouth Grove! Many of the trainees have posted comments relating to the session, including myself, as have some of the school's teachers and university tutor Alan Cross.
The teacher, Mrs Simpson also used an Ipad which was linked up to the interactive whiteboard using an application called Splashtop 2. Using this kind of technology really allowed her to engage with the children at all times as she was able to instantly display the children's thoughts and ideas via the ipad and show them to the whole class.
The link here shows the blog posted about this fantastic session. Thank you Plymouth Grove! Many of the trainees have posted comments relating to the session, including myself, as have some of the school's teachers and university tutor Alan Cross.
The teacher, Mrs Simpson also used an Ipad which was linked up to the interactive whiteboard using an application called Splashtop 2. Using this kind of technology really allowed her to engage with the children at all times as she was able to instantly display the children's thoughts and ideas via the ipad and show them to the whole class.
Community Cohesion session at Plymouth Grove Primary School
01/10/2012 - We spent the morning at Plymouth Grove Primary school in Longsight, Manchester.
We started the morning by gathering our own ideas with the head teacher, Michael Cooke who gave us some fantastic ideas on just what exactly community cohesion is.
We then went on to discuss with pupils from year 6 and year 4 just what the idea of a community meant to them.
We started off with the question: 'who am I?', then we thought about 'who are we?' and then we discussed how a community can be on a number of different levels, from friends, to classmates, to a school, to an area and we concluded by saying that the whole world is one big community.
Miss Thompson of 4T was taking pictures on the Ipad and blogging throughout the session. This is an amazing tool and can be used to show the children just how much they achieved in a relatively small amount of time.
With our group we decided to do an advert/performance on the school values which make up the community of Plymouth Grove Primary School. The children chose to focus on: determination and encouragement, friendship and diversity.
It was a wonderful morning and I would like to say a big thank you to Miss Thompson, Mr Cooke, all of the children and to everybody else involved.
Click here to look at class 4T's blog...
and take a look at some of the amazing comments on our community session...
We started the morning by gathering our own ideas with the head teacher, Michael Cooke who gave us some fantastic ideas on just what exactly community cohesion is.
We then went on to discuss with pupils from year 6 and year 4 just what the idea of a community meant to them.
We started off with the question: 'who am I?', then we thought about 'who are we?' and then we discussed how a community can be on a number of different levels, from friends, to classmates, to a school, to an area and we concluded by saying that the whole world is one big community.
Miss Thompson of 4T was taking pictures on the Ipad and blogging throughout the session. This is an amazing tool and can be used to show the children just how much they achieved in a relatively small amount of time.
With our group we decided to do an advert/performance on the school values which make up the community of Plymouth Grove Primary School. The children chose to focus on: determination and encouragement, friendship and diversity.
It was a wonderful morning and I would like to say a big thank you to Miss Thompson, Mr Cooke, all of the children and to everybody else involved.
Click here to look at class 4T's blog...
and take a look at some of the amazing comments on our community session...
Guided Professional Placement
Throughout my guided professional placement I incorporated ICT into the curriculum in a number of ways. I also taught a discrete lesson once a week. In this class one of the main aims was for the children to improve their use of a piece of software called Revelation Natural Art.
I therefore incorporated ICT into our RE classes. We had been assigned the theme of Buddhism for our wall display and I decided that we would focus on Buddhist art. The children were asked to think about the meanings of different Buddhist symbols. Once they had thought about the meaning they then chose their favourite symbol and designed it using the software. Here are some of the examples below that were displayed...
I therefore incorporated ICT into our RE classes. We had been assigned the theme of Buddhism for our wall display and I decided that we would focus on Buddhist art. The children were asked to think about the meanings of different Buddhist symbols. Once they had thought about the meaning they then chose their favourite symbol and designed it using the software. Here are some of the examples below that were displayed...
Revelation Natural Art...
Some work on Buddhist art ...
Here are just some of the example of the work done on Buddhist art. This was contrasted on the display board next to hand drawn images and intricately designed symbols that primarily involved the use of colour. This highlighted to the children that different effects are created when different tools are used.
See below for evidence of art work done by the children.
The picture below on the right also shows how I made the board interactive for all learners. I recorded one of the children making a statement about the Buddhist religion, we then wrote the same text on the recording equipment and put it on the display board. This meant that any children/adults that walked pass could play the 20 second recording and learn a little more about the work.
Here are just some of the example of the work done on Buddhist art. This was contrasted on the display board next to hand drawn images and intricately designed symbols that primarily involved the use of colour. This highlighted to the children that different effects are created when different tools are used.
See below for evidence of art work done by the children.
The picture below on the right also shows how I made the board interactive for all learners. I recorded one of the children making a statement about the Buddhist religion, we then wrote the same text on the recording equipment and put it on the display board. This meant that any children/adults that walked pass could play the 20 second recording and learn a little more about the work.
Electricity
Throughout our science topic of electricity I also incorporated a number of different games and activities using ICT. The
children enjoyed demonstrating their knowledge and used our classroom display board to refer to when they needed help. Below are just some of the websites that we used to support learning. Using these interactive Internet games acted as a form of elicitation which I used to inform my assessment. I was able to see which children were able to participate and which were not. I felt that this was a fantastic way to assess as the children felt that they were playing a game and having fun. I was able to push the children on by getting them to provide reasons for their answers and evaluate their responses by relating it back to their own practical experiences with circuits in the classroom.
I also made giant sized components so that the children could make their own human circuit. These included giant crocodile clips (as on the left), a huge bulb and a big battery. The children loved getting involved and pretending that they were passing the electricity on by making sure that there were no gaps in the circuit.
children enjoyed demonstrating their knowledge and used our classroom display board to refer to when they needed help. Below are just some of the websites that we used to support learning. Using these interactive Internet games acted as a form of elicitation which I used to inform my assessment. I was able to see which children were able to participate and which were not. I felt that this was a fantastic way to assess as the children felt that they were playing a game and having fun. I was able to push the children on by getting them to provide reasons for their answers and evaluate their responses by relating it back to their own practical experiences with circuits in the classroom.
I also made giant sized components so that the children could make their own human circuit. These included giant crocodile clips (as on the left), a huge bulb and a big battery. The children loved getting involved and pretending that they were passing the electricity on by making sure that there were no gaps in the circuit.