Using iMovie on the iPad to remake the Lego Cake or Death from Thorn2200

This week I was observed teaching. Not usually a happy affair for some but this time I thought I might use the recent additions to ICT (iPads) I have been making to highlight the need for a larger focus put on ICT in our school.

With the recent training and a happier more creative outlook placed on tackling ICT by placing it firmly at the center of our teaching it was time to put the iPad to test in the very grateful hands of the Year 5 children.

Basically, the future plans are that KS2 will inherit a much overdue injection of iPod touches to cater for bespoke cross-curricular lessons. It means that the children will have a video camera and editing software in their hands; something I think is imperative in modern KS2 ICT. So far the iPads have been for the Reception children only with view to KS1 after Christmas and I needed to see what the limitations are when using them with the older children. This is the rationale anyway! Sometimes I really love my job!

So, the lesson plan is below:

This is the slideshow used for the lesson outline and general beginning.

It outlines the use of scripting and images being used from the Cake or Death Brickfilm:

The reason I chose this as the introduction is that the children who have just started at our school don't have the same wealth of knowledge in Scratch as the others and they have been working on a similarly themed project so this is very familiar.

Learn more about this project

To begin with I wrote the script out (not just for this lesson I'm hastened to add!)

 Then the children followed the intro videos to help them get underway. You can see them in the presentation above so I'll only put the links to the films here:

Film 1 - intro - have a look around iMovie

Film 2 - adding pics through Drop Box

Film 3 - adding finishing touches

So, with a few stops in the lesson to bring the children together and a slight overrun to fill in the form to assess each other's work and upload to dropbox the total time was about 100 minutes. So a double lesson in most cases. This is the form we used to assess each other's work.

Finally, the lesson observation went well and I still have a job! This is one of the final pieces.

How to Gather the iPad list of Apps into a text file (and Share)

Embedding the final result below.

Simple and easy to share with our recpetion classes and further when we have to cross them off to curricilum areas.

For the inspiration see the Kathy Shrock blog for more info.

Design Thinking: Workshops by Ewan McIntosh and Tom Barrett

On November the 8th we invited over Ewan McIntosh and Tom Barrett two of the leading specialists in ICT in education from the company NoTosh. They were here to work with all staff in Primary and Nursery plus a few from our Bi Lingual section too. They were here for 3 days and were structured so that year groups could work together in their teams and produce new and exciting resources to teach with. They also learned new methods to try and be more experimental with the ICT equipment we have in school.

The days began with our staff learning to use the Google suite of applications that mostly come with a Gmail account. Many people do not realise the potential that these applications have for education. Tom, who specialises in this field was the first teacher in the UK to become a certified Google Educator and leads the way in its use with his ideas called "Interesting Ways". If you should do a Google search for this you will see the variety of uses that have been put together from teachers all over the world.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Ewan, who has a media background working for Channel 4 in the UK, compliments this use of online tools by introducing teachers to new possibilities in story telling. His workshops teach us to how to add video, mobile devices, online games and digital stills to enhance the language children produce in their stories. This approach will lead us to become more creative in our approach to teaching with these devices. It also allows our students to take more control of their learning and to lead their own learning via collaboration - a key part that links both Ewan and Tom's ethos of Design Thinking. 

Design Thinking was the focus for our final day on the Friday. Both Tom and Ewan introduced the idea to us that 'letting go of the reins' and allowing students to take more control of their learning is fundamental to success in the modern classroom. So the key to us as teachers is to adapt and change and lead through use of the tools we have been introduced to this week; collaborate with our students and teach them with the creative opportunities these technologies provide.

This week has been great fun for me and I hope it has been too for all involved - Tom and Ewan were fabulous speakers and really encouraged those of us who, in light of change, can be nervous for the unexpected journey ahead. But, the teachers who attended this is just the beginning as we will have to share our creative ideas with them as part of our pledge to send the outcome to them in 4 - 6 months!

Twitter for Teachers Workshop

Twitter for Teachers Today is the start of our 3 day long training workshop on Google Tools, Storytelling, social networks and essentially becoming a little more creative in ICT.

Below is the presentation I will be using for teachers to follow on using Twitter. If you want editing rights then please mail to ask!

Enjoy.

iPad in the Reception Classrooom. EYFS

This is a snippet of the latest use of the iPad in Reception.

The children have used the app called MadPad that essentially turn the iPad into a musical instrument via video buttons.

This was a two part lesson - the first being to get to know the mad pad app and record percussion.

Then the second to import other children's percussion into new set of buttons.

They had to review what was good sound and what was poor sound. They also had to make sure we could see the instrument being played. 

The result was a mixed bag really but the children understood immediately that they could use Johnny's hammer sound as it was the best and he was from another class. Collaborative effects next time where we chose who we want to send our sounds to. 

Baby steps as they say as this is only really the end of the first half term.

Next up, drawing and painting with a stylus.

(FutureLab.org.uk) Connecting digital literacy between home and school

This essential piece of reading about the differences and similarities of ICT in the home and at school highlights a major part of my ICT ethos: "What can be done at school ICT can be done at home and the two should be interlinked"

This report describes the connections and discontinuities between children’s digital literacy practices at home and in school in two primary and two secondary schools. It provides a brief introduction to the research, presents and explores findings from the research, drawing out some common themes and discussing challenges and opportunities for connecting children’s digital literacy between home and school.

Worthy reading from Futurelab as always - link, save and spend 20 mins reading for introduction to your gaming professional development.

Connecting Digital Literacy Between Home and School