It is officially National Anti-Bullying Week this week (19th - 23rd November) and there's exciting things afoot.
Bullying Prevention charity, Beatbullying, has teamed up with YouTube to create a video channel where children, young people, teachers and more than a few celebrities can speak their mind about bullying. There's comments, v-logs and all sorts of links to various sources on there - well worth a visit.
This is where something like YouTube really shines. It can be used by anybody to reach so many people, raise awareness and inspire reactions and comments. There are several video messages on there from school classes around the country - what a great way to get children involved in ICT and an important national (and global) issue, too! This proves that V-logging, within a well protected and maintained forum, can be a real aid to the curriculum.
Links of note:
Anti-Bullying Week 19th-23rd November 2007
The Anti-Bullying Alliance
The Beatbullying YouTube channel
Beatbullying charity website
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Sunday, 11 November 2007
I'm trying it...
Having read the last two directed readings about IWBs I am feeling more than a little apprehensive. It seems that you can have too much of a good thing and the 'wow' factor of an IWB should not be a substitute for poorly planned lessons. There are loads of free IWB resources out there for pretty much every subject and lesson and yet don't think I've seen an IWB used to its complete advantage.
The classroom I'm in for SBT1 doesn't have one. Problematic. They also have three computers in the classroom and no other 'ICT suite' as far as I can see. I might be fighting a losing battle with this one. But i'm going to try and integrate ICT into my teaching, somehow. Perhaps we could spend the whole 5week placement building a computer?..
I feel like I've learned a lot in the few months that I've been looking at ICT in education. I have definately developed stronger views than I did have before about the absolute necessity of incorporating ICT into the life of the class/school. ICT should be involved in every aspect of school learning as it is in every aspect of modern life. There's no reason why children should enter secondary school able to read, write, add, subtract, say 'bonjour', paint sunflowers and do a forward roll but unable to access the increasingly technology-driven lifestyles we are required to live. But I don't even think this is the real problem. Children (largely) have no problem with ICT; it is schools which seem to have issues.
The classroom I'm in for SBT1 doesn't have one. Problematic. They also have three computers in the classroom and no other 'ICT suite' as far as I can see. I might be fighting a losing battle with this one. But i'm going to try and integrate ICT into my teaching, somehow. Perhaps we could spend the whole 5week placement building a computer?..
I feel like I've learned a lot in the few months that I've been looking at ICT in education. I have definately developed stronger views than I did have before about the absolute necessity of incorporating ICT into the life of the class/school. ICT should be involved in every aspect of school learning as it is in every aspect of modern life. There's no reason why children should enter secondary school able to read, write, add, subtract, say 'bonjour', paint sunflowers and do a forward roll but unable to access the increasingly technology-driven lifestyles we are required to live. But I don't even think this is the real problem. Children (largely) have no problem with ICT; it is schools which seem to have issues.
Saturday, 3 November 2007
Serial Filler
Well, I've made it through a week at my placement school and I'm still smiling!
It was a really good, absolutely jam-packed week and I feel like I've learned a lot. We looked at candle-light in RE, counting in 10s in numeracy, The Owl and the Pussy Cat in literacy, Guy Fawkes in history, rhythm in music and a whole lot inbetween! And I read Zagazoo which is a children's book that everyone should read!
I've seen a real mix of ICT resources used, but not particularly frequently. They seem to favour good old fashioned books and dry-wipe boards (although in the staffroom I did overhear another teacher talking about her IWB). The class watched a BBC dvd for phonics and a very good (if a little dated) Guy Fawkes video. In their free-choice time, children were allowed to used the computers in the classroom. And several were working on a previous lesson's alliteration task which was being typed up. I also took small groups of children around the school to take digital photographs of patterns in and around the school which we then uploaded to the computer and printed off. However, it didn't feel like ICT was really being used most effectively.
Perhaps there really is a barrier between the computer-savvy children of today and their slightly slow-to-catch-on elders!
It was a really good, absolutely jam-packed week and I feel like I've learned a lot. We looked at candle-light in RE, counting in 10s in numeracy, The Owl and the Pussy Cat in literacy, Guy Fawkes in history, rhythm in music and a whole lot inbetween! And I read Zagazoo which is a children's book that everyone should read!
I've seen a real mix of ICT resources used, but not particularly frequently. They seem to favour good old fashioned books and dry-wipe boards (although in the staffroom I did overhear another teacher talking about her IWB). The class watched a BBC dvd for phonics and a very good (if a little dated) Guy Fawkes video. In their free-choice time, children were allowed to used the computers in the classroom. And several were working on a previous lesson's alliteration task which was being typed up. I also took small groups of children around the school to take digital photographs of patterns in and around the school which we then uploaded to the computer and printed off. However, it didn't feel like ICT was really being used most effectively.
Perhaps there really is a barrier between the computer-savvy children of today and their slightly slow-to-catch-on elders!
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