Teacher Evaluation
Summary
Teachers' responses were generally positive and the project appeared to have had a positive effect on children's learning in ICT and/or subject contexts.
In terms of issues and improvements, the following points appeared to be significant:
Note that some responses have been abridged to avoid repetition.
Teachers' responses were generally positive and the project appeared to have had a positive effect on children's learning in ICT and/or subject contexts.
In terms of issues and improvements, the following points appeared to be significant:
- In some schools, there appeared to be a mismatch between teacher and trainee (Associate Teacher) expectations, either because the teacher was new to the project or because of previous experience in March.
- Lack of communication between teachers and trainees appeared to be an issue in some cases. A pre-visit to the school between the initial planning meeting and the Project day appeared to have led to more positive outcomes.
- The most successful projects appeared to be ones where there was a combination of teacher-led and trainee-led activities during the Project day. Notwithstanding, some mainly trainee-led projects appeared to be highly successful, in terms of children's learning and products, and trainees' confidence with ICT appeared to have increased as a result.
Note that some responses have been abridged to avoid repetition.
Yes, the children certainly learned some ICT skills that they did not already have, and they potentially would not have been able to acquire these skills without such a project. The project has enhanced my skills as the teacher and I can use and integrate this into my future teaching.
The project allowed me to focus on delivering an important aspect of the ICT curriculum. By focusing on the teaching of Scratch for a whole day with the help of 4 other adults (the students), I was able to give the children an experience in learning that would not otherwise have been possible.
This project allowed children to work in smaller groups and take more of a lead in what they were doing.
Pupils demonstrated that they were able to focus well and show patience whilst working on the animations. The project encouraged 2 classes to work together both before the Friday (on a joint art activity) and on the Friday, when some of the target group were able to encourage some participation from pupils with Profound and Multiple learning difficulties.
It was great to spend a whole morning using the Bee-bots and really useful that the children could work in small mixed ability groups with an adult to enhance their learning in a cross curricular way. The students definitely gained an insight into teaching ICT in Year 2; developing knowledge of the expectations and capabilities of the children and also the logistics/organisation involved in delivering the lesson. However doing a whole class Bee-bot session meant some children had to share one Bee-bot between 3 in their group rather than between 2.
The ICT enhanced the teaching of literacy. By using Photo Story the children were encouraged to use adjectives to describe each scene of their farm story (a writing target for my year one pupils). The ICT also enhanced their interest in writing and was an easy way of communicating their verbal stories in typed text and what they found to be an amazing Photo Story.
I think I left it too open for the students. [Activities were focused on literacy, rather than developing ICT capabilities].On a positive note, the students were able to see class management in a real, day to day situation and the ability range, as well as the actual age range of Y2, Y4 and Y6. The children enjoyed the experience and were pleased with their work.
Definitely. The extra support/resources offered by the project allowed for a much more ambitious ICT plan and outcome. Also, the ideas offered by the students involved added to my own to enhance what I felt was a pretty creative ICT approach.
My pupils needed to enhance their mouse control, improve keyboard knowledge and begin to know how to save work. By carrying out our activity, the pupils were able to address all of these skills and by working in small groups with a designated student, they were able to receive maximum input which led to super pictures being created with good mouse control and excellent questions being typed. The students ensured the children were focused and kept reminding them about question words and the question mark key for eg. When saving work, although the students did this part for pupils, (as suggested by myself) they talked it through with the pupils and allowed them to enter their own name and press save.
The project led me to introduce aspects of technology that I would probably not have used this early in the school year with Year 4 and it was interesting to see how well they coped with it at this stage. It also made the learning of history (The Tudors) much more exciting for the children through the act of role play and the digital aspects of turning their interviews into a tv show akin to Horrible Histories.
I thought the students did very well too, especially as there were a couple of software glitches that could easily have thrown them.
The project enabled the children to utilise skills learnt previously for a real purpose.
The Kerpoof website enabled the Y3/4 children to experience new methods of animation, including using a timeline to control more than one character simultaneously. They have not experienced this before, nor done much more than very short frame by frame drawings for a brief animation. It introduced other staff in our school to the Kerpoof site as they were able to watch the PGCE students teaching the children the new methods.
Yes, introduced us to I Can Animate 2, which is a very child/teacher friendly resource which can be incorporated across the curriculum to enhance all areas. Especially useful was the staff talk after school so that we could get ourselves organised beforehand and buy resources etc. Children able create animations independently - not previously able to! Knowledge has been retained which will enable further work to refine and enhance skills. Story boarding enabled children to order before hand and link with RE, maths and literacy curriculum.
The I Can Animate 2 Software inspired the children to engage thoroughly with the skills of ICT, but also was a great lead in to our Literacy topic of A Christmas Carol. The children thoroughly enjoyed the multi-media experience and learned a lot about animation, digital photography, using webcams and sound to name but a few. The collaborative way that the children worked gave another useful insight into the potential that ICT has, as well as teaching the children discrete ICT skills, which were amazing for us to see as practitioners. Children are far more willing to 'have a go', press buttons here and there and see what happens, but by that investigative approach were able to find out more themselves, once they were confident with the software. I would use this again to teach ICT skills, but also in other cross-curricular subjects.
The project allowed me to focus on delivering an important aspect of the ICT curriculum. By focusing on the teaching of Scratch for a whole day with the help of 4 other adults (the students), I was able to give the children an experience in learning that would not otherwise have been possible.
This project allowed children to work in smaller groups and take more of a lead in what they were doing.
Pupils demonstrated that they were able to focus well and show patience whilst working on the animations. The project encouraged 2 classes to work together both before the Friday (on a joint art activity) and on the Friday, when some of the target group were able to encourage some participation from pupils with Profound and Multiple learning difficulties.
It was great to spend a whole morning using the Bee-bots and really useful that the children could work in small mixed ability groups with an adult to enhance their learning in a cross curricular way. The students definitely gained an insight into teaching ICT in Year 2; developing knowledge of the expectations and capabilities of the children and also the logistics/organisation involved in delivering the lesson. However doing a whole class Bee-bot session meant some children had to share one Bee-bot between 3 in their group rather than between 2.
The ICT enhanced the teaching of literacy. By using Photo Story the children were encouraged to use adjectives to describe each scene of their farm story (a writing target for my year one pupils). The ICT also enhanced their interest in writing and was an easy way of communicating their verbal stories in typed text and what they found to be an amazing Photo Story.
I think I left it too open for the students. [Activities were focused on literacy, rather than developing ICT capabilities].On a positive note, the students were able to see class management in a real, day to day situation and the ability range, as well as the actual age range of Y2, Y4 and Y6. The children enjoyed the experience and were pleased with their work.
Definitely. The extra support/resources offered by the project allowed for a much more ambitious ICT plan and outcome. Also, the ideas offered by the students involved added to my own to enhance what I felt was a pretty creative ICT approach.
My pupils needed to enhance their mouse control, improve keyboard knowledge and begin to know how to save work. By carrying out our activity, the pupils were able to address all of these skills and by working in small groups with a designated student, they were able to receive maximum input which led to super pictures being created with good mouse control and excellent questions being typed. The students ensured the children were focused and kept reminding them about question words and the question mark key for eg. When saving work, although the students did this part for pupils, (as suggested by myself) they talked it through with the pupils and allowed them to enter their own name and press save.
The project led me to introduce aspects of technology that I would probably not have used this early in the school year with Year 4 and it was interesting to see how well they coped with it at this stage. It also made the learning of history (The Tudors) much more exciting for the children through the act of role play and the digital aspects of turning their interviews into a tv show akin to Horrible Histories.
I thought the students did very well too, especially as there were a couple of software glitches that could easily have thrown them.
The project enabled the children to utilise skills learnt previously for a real purpose.
The Kerpoof website enabled the Y3/4 children to experience new methods of animation, including using a timeline to control more than one character simultaneously. They have not experienced this before, nor done much more than very short frame by frame drawings for a brief animation. It introduced other staff in our school to the Kerpoof site as they were able to watch the PGCE students teaching the children the new methods.
Yes, introduced us to I Can Animate 2, which is a very child/teacher friendly resource which can be incorporated across the curriculum to enhance all areas. Especially useful was the staff talk after school so that we could get ourselves organised beforehand and buy resources etc. Children able create animations independently - not previously able to! Knowledge has been retained which will enable further work to refine and enhance skills. Story boarding enabled children to order before hand and link with RE, maths and literacy curriculum.
The I Can Animate 2 Software inspired the children to engage thoroughly with the skills of ICT, but also was a great lead in to our Literacy topic of A Christmas Carol. The children thoroughly enjoyed the multi-media experience and learned a lot about animation, digital photography, using webcams and sound to name but a few. The collaborative way that the children worked gave another useful insight into the potential that ICT has, as well as teaching the children discrete ICT skills, which were amazing for us to see as practitioners. Children are far more willing to 'have a go', press buttons here and there and see what happens, but by that investigative approach were able to find out more themselves, once they were confident with the software. I would use this again to teach ICT skills, but also in other cross-curricular subjects.
Below are teachers' responses to the question: How could the project be improved?
I think possibly the students would have felt more comfortable and ready for the project if they had come into school, prior to the project day, to spend time with the children during the 'preparation tasks' for the project. This would have given them a better view of the whole process of the project. Otherwise, the student I worked with was very capable and confident and enhanced mine and the children's learning in ICT sufficiently. Thank you!
After last year's visit by the students, during which I did all of the teaching and they assisted, I decided that this year I would teach initially and allow the students to work with small groups after that furthering their learning. This was very successful and gave the students, I felt, a lovely opportunity to actually teach. It was a very successful and enjoyable day. The students were very pleasant and hardworking.
I would have liked to have the students for a full day so that they could have completed the entire project (a few were left unfinished simply due to time constraints). Having said that, I appreciate that I could possibly have made other arrangements for the students to come another day. Other than that logistic aspect I can't think of any improvements really.
From my point of the view, the project ran smoothly and at the appropriate level for the students. If the project was run later in the year, I would advise students to consider their own planning and the skills to be covered but at this time of the year, assisting me was perfect.
Having an initial meeting via Skype or email may have allowed for ideas to be formulated. Followed by a practice meetup day to combine hardware/resources and check that everything worked.
I think it would be better for the students to visit the school rather than teachers going to campus, or a pre-visit after the initial meeting at uni.The first time we took part in this, I felt that the students wanted a lead role but didn't make this clear at the meeting; the second time an assisting role, when I thought it would be better to give them a lead role. I appreciate that, like children, the students are going to be of different abilities and they have a very busy schedule, but the lack of communication from the students on both occasions has been an issue.
The two students involved did come into school to meet the pupils beforehand which was invaluable. This is essential, within a special school setting, in order that the pupils get to know the students and vice versa.
If we had more students to work with the children in each class I feel this would have been beneficial, as this would have given the students more confidence and, in year one, children are much less independent in the use of Photo Story.
Having never participated in this project and the fact that the students are just beginning their PGCE course, I was unsure of how to deliver this project. I led the whole class teaching and the students then worked with the children in mixed ability groups exploring the use of Bee-bots. I planned the activities for the students and discussed how I would deliver the group session, including possible extension work. On reflection perhaps the students would have gained more if I'd given them more freedom to plan the group activity themselves. However they embraced working with children and a good time was had by all!
A series of sessions would make the project less rushed and would enable more experience to be gained by the students and pupils.
As a school (staff and children)we found it useful to be introduced to new software by the students who had had the time to explore and be able to use it confidently. The students themselves seemed pleased to have had the opportunity to teach whole lessons to a whole class, whilst also having the support of peers and teachers. The students acted professionally in all cases and were obviously well prepared which, considering this was their first class teaching experience, bodes well for their future.
For future projects it would be useful to have slightly more specific requirements whilst not limiting the different ways in which schools will need to adapt to fit to their needs and curriculum e.g. whether the students are expected, as part of their course, to observe teaching as well as undertake it themselves. I feel happy with the way we organised it this year but I want to make sure they are left with all the experiences they need from us at this stage to continue their training and development of ICT teaching skills. As the new curriculum comes in over the next few terms it would be useful to have the input of those being trained during its implementation in terms of ICT requirements.
Perhaps students come in at a time when planning format has been introduced, so that after the teaching more formal reflections against a clear learning objective could be undertaken by trainees. Most our our students visited school beforehand and this is important if both school and student are to have the same expectations. Although fairly stressful and time consuming initially, we thoroughly enjoyed having the students with us and as a KS2 staff we learned a lot alongside the children and students.
An ICT audit would be useful, just in terms of knowing who has what and what else might be needed to run a project like this. The students knew the software after their opportunity to make their own film before the day in school experience, which, naturally, is crucial. I thoroughly enjoyed the project, finding [the Associate Teacher] to have good skills in ICT in order to teach the children the skills required, but also, in his ability to engage with the project, thinking both creatively and practically - excellent skills which will be needed when he begins to work on his teaching practice. He had good classroom management of whole class and had all of the children engaged from the outset with the work he had prepared.
After last year's visit by the students, during which I did all of the teaching and they assisted, I decided that this year I would teach initially and allow the students to work with small groups after that furthering their learning. This was very successful and gave the students, I felt, a lovely opportunity to actually teach. It was a very successful and enjoyable day. The students were very pleasant and hardworking.
I would have liked to have the students for a full day so that they could have completed the entire project (a few were left unfinished simply due to time constraints). Having said that, I appreciate that I could possibly have made other arrangements for the students to come another day. Other than that logistic aspect I can't think of any improvements really.
From my point of the view, the project ran smoothly and at the appropriate level for the students. If the project was run later in the year, I would advise students to consider their own planning and the skills to be covered but at this time of the year, assisting me was perfect.
Having an initial meeting via Skype or email may have allowed for ideas to be formulated. Followed by a practice meetup day to combine hardware/resources and check that everything worked.
I think it would be better for the students to visit the school rather than teachers going to campus, or a pre-visit after the initial meeting at uni.The first time we took part in this, I felt that the students wanted a lead role but didn't make this clear at the meeting; the second time an assisting role, when I thought it would be better to give them a lead role. I appreciate that, like children, the students are going to be of different abilities and they have a very busy schedule, but the lack of communication from the students on both occasions has been an issue.
The two students involved did come into school to meet the pupils beforehand which was invaluable. This is essential, within a special school setting, in order that the pupils get to know the students and vice versa.
If we had more students to work with the children in each class I feel this would have been beneficial, as this would have given the students more confidence and, in year one, children are much less independent in the use of Photo Story.
Having never participated in this project and the fact that the students are just beginning their PGCE course, I was unsure of how to deliver this project. I led the whole class teaching and the students then worked with the children in mixed ability groups exploring the use of Bee-bots. I planned the activities for the students and discussed how I would deliver the group session, including possible extension work. On reflection perhaps the students would have gained more if I'd given them more freedom to plan the group activity themselves. However they embraced working with children and a good time was had by all!
A series of sessions would make the project less rushed and would enable more experience to be gained by the students and pupils.
As a school (staff and children)we found it useful to be introduced to new software by the students who had had the time to explore and be able to use it confidently. The students themselves seemed pleased to have had the opportunity to teach whole lessons to a whole class, whilst also having the support of peers and teachers. The students acted professionally in all cases and were obviously well prepared which, considering this was their first class teaching experience, bodes well for their future.
For future projects it would be useful to have slightly more specific requirements whilst not limiting the different ways in which schools will need to adapt to fit to their needs and curriculum e.g. whether the students are expected, as part of their course, to observe teaching as well as undertake it themselves. I feel happy with the way we organised it this year but I want to make sure they are left with all the experiences they need from us at this stage to continue their training and development of ICT teaching skills. As the new curriculum comes in over the next few terms it would be useful to have the input of those being trained during its implementation in terms of ICT requirements.
Perhaps students come in at a time when planning format has been introduced, so that after the teaching more formal reflections against a clear learning objective could be undertaken by trainees. Most our our students visited school beforehand and this is important if both school and student are to have the same expectations. Although fairly stressful and time consuming initially, we thoroughly enjoyed having the students with us and as a KS2 staff we learned a lot alongside the children and students.
An ICT audit would be useful, just in terms of knowing who has what and what else might be needed to run a project like this. The students knew the software after their opportunity to make their own film before the day in school experience, which, naturally, is crucial. I thoroughly enjoyed the project, finding [the Associate Teacher] to have good skills in ICT in order to teach the children the skills required, but also, in his ability to engage with the project, thinking both creatively and practically - excellent skills which will be needed when he begins to work on his teaching practice. He had good classroom management of whole class and had all of the children engaged from the outset with the work he had prepared.
Trainee (Associate Teacher) Evaluation
The following points appeared to be significant in relation to the first evaluative question: Did the project enhance your knowledge and skills in relation to excellent teaching of ICT in the core subjects?
For most trainees, experiences on the Project day were positive in terms of enhancing their confidence and competence in relation to teaching ICT. Below are some indicative comments from the responses to question one.
For most trainees, experiences on the Project day were positive in terms of enhancing their confidence and competence in relation to teaching ICT. Below are some indicative comments from the responses to question one.
- I feel this definitely enhanced my knowledge and skills in relation to excellent teaching of ICT. The teacher made the lesson relevant and interesting with reference to what was possible with further practice of this software and identification of what this can lead into including game design and creation. Use of this system increased my knowledge of showing children the fundamental concepts in programming which can seem confusing at first.
- I found the ICT project to be a positive experience. It enhanced my skills regarding using ICT in the classroom, it also enhanced my skills for using the particular application we used.
- It was an incredibly successful day, and I learnt a lot in terms of the difficulties facing ICT lessons, and about my own development as a teacher.
- Overall I had a great experience with the ICT project, and I only wish we could do something similar for other non core subjects.
- The ICT project was fantastic. It provided opportunities to enhance my own knowledge and skills in teaching ICT and to build up my own confidence using and teaching with software. The children were absolutely brilliant! Their enthusiasm and engagement really made the day successful .... they even persevered when the laptop regularly crashed.
- The project enabled me to get a better understanding of how to link ICT to a topic, without it being completely separate. It also enabled me to understand the level that year 1 children are working at in regard to ICT, and how much support they need.
- Overall the project was thoroughly worthwhile. I feel that I gained a lot and that the children benefitted from the skills that they were taught.
- Probably the most beneficial aspect of the day was seeing how children progressed at hugely different rates. Working with a small group of children was particularly rewarding and it was lovely to see their sense of achievement at the end of the day when some of the children had their work chosen to be displayed on the board in front of the rest of the class. The software also seems very useful as it allows the children to be very creative and each of the pairs of children created a very different output.
- My confidence in my ability to teach ICT has been greatly boosted, has as my confidence in lesson planning for ICT. Initially I was a bit nervous as I would consider ICT to be one of my weakest subject areas, yet an extremely supportive and friendly teaching environment helped me to feel relaxed and assured. I have learnt how to make computer programming enjoyable for year 3/4 children whilst gaining a key understanding of the importance of differentiation. I have learnt how to plan progressions for more advanced pupils and effective time management skills. I also developed an understanding of subject related terminology which I will try to develop further.
- At the start of the day I felt able to use the software to a reasonable standard, but experiencing the various groups, abilities and different attitudes of the children throughout the day has meant that I now feel much more competent in using the software.
- In terms of seeing ICT embedded into another subject context, I learned a valuable lesson that children require more time to explore the functionality of the software before high-quality cross-curricular outcomes can be expected. The project provided opportunities to examine different teaching styles and classroom organisation for learning. Children worked in mixed-ability pairs, determined by the class teacher, to complete the task and this appeared to work well and highlighted the inclusive nature of ICT.
- I feel this definitely enhanced my knowledge and skills in relation to excellent teaching of ICT. It was a fantastic opportunity to watch an outstanding teacher focus on ICT.
- All in all, it has been a rewarding project and I feel much more confident about teaching ICT as a result!
- The project did enhance my knowledge and skills of teaching excellent ICT. I found it extremely helpful to be able to watch how the class teacher introduced the new program, Scratch, to the children and then showed them what they would be able to do by the end of the day. From observing the teaching I've learnt the importance of breaking the program down into simple steps where the children can progress quickly and confidently to a more difficult activity.
- The project allowed me to assist small groups of year one pupils using Photo Story 3. This enhanced my knowledge and skills using this software because it allowed me to use it hands on with younger children. It showed me the level that year one pupils were at in ICT, giving them a realisitic learning objective and achieving it successfully at the end of the lesson.
- The project helped 'bring to life' some of the things we have covered in our ICT lectures so was very useful. It was valuable to be able to see and experience some of the challenges in using ICT in the classroom. There were obviously benefits to using ICT; the children were clearly engaged and motivated. I thought it was good how the teacher made it relevant to their current knowledge by talking about all the things they currently use that need programming to work.
- The project was particularly beneficial as it encouraged me to be more ambitious in my planning for ICT. I gained considerable insights through the collaborative process of planning with my colleagues and benefited from observing their planning in action. We taught a Year 3 animation lesson using the Kerpoof software package. Through partaking in the project I was able to expand on my knowledge of animation, consider the key decisions made by animators in terms of programming and sequencing actions and also gain some experience of cross-curricular links to speaking and listening and literacy. ... It is often challenging for children of this age to convey humour in the written form. Interestingly, some pupils were able to achieve this through their animations. ICT would appear to be a valuable tool to developing the thought processes behind this higher level writing skill and this provided stretch for more able pupils. The ability to add music to scenes was not only enjoyable for children but encouraged them to consider their audience and the mood they were attempting to convey.
- Working with the children in their groups enhanced my skills in relation to the teaching of ICT in classrooms as I learnt to take a step back and let the children work together to create their great animations. I learnt that if I introduced the basics of the software to the whole class, it allowed them to make a start on their animations then I could introduce other aspects of the software, such as onion skinning, as they were working. This made for a more productive lesson and a greater understanding of the software. At the start of the day I felt able to use the software to a reasonable standard, but experiencing the various groups, abilities and different attitudes of the children throughout the day has meant that I now feel much more competent in using the software.
- I have learnt how to make computer programming enjoyable for year 3/4 children whilst gaining a key understanding of the importance of differentiation. I have learnt how to plan progressions for more advanced pupils and effective time management skills. I also developed an understanding of subject related terminology which I will try to develop further.
- Making a quiz (thinking of questions and answers) really did cut into the lesson time, meaning the editing of Microsoft Word was not as effective as it should have been, so from today I have learnt that before going on the computer have all skills/ideas prepared prior to the ICT class, so that all skills in the ICT lesson do focus on ICT skills.
- As to what is important in outstanding ICT teaching I believe what this day has taught me is that it must be creative and active.
- Overall, I found the day to be extremely successful. I was able to work through the complete process of teaching a lesson, from the planning right through to the delivery. I found this to be extremely useful to me, giving me a huge confidence boost right before the first placement. It also allowed me to see exactly how an ICT lesson would be delivered and this has again boosted my confidence in teaching the subject.
- I feel confident about delivering a lesson on stop motion animation after today. Although there were a few slight technical difficulties midway through the morning, I learnt that no matter how much preparation you can do for a lesson, the unexpected will always happen, especially when it comes to ICT and you need to be prepared to think on your feet and adapt plans where necessary. It was really useful observing the class teacher's organisation and management of the morning.
- In reflection, the day provided me with confidence in teaching a specific software and how to plan out the lesson, i.e. introducing the concept, getting the children excited about the project. The day taught me how it is imperative to provide essential instructions of how to use the software, then allowing the children to go off and journey their way through it.
- Apart from the well-managed, focused and industrious work that was taking place in the classroom, the class teacher's obvious enthusiasm and optimism in the face of problems such as software crashes and slow network connectivity, was infectious. The organisation of a complicated, cross-curricular ICT project, as well as the management of children's abilities and expectations, are skills which I will hopefully bring to my own teaching practice.
- The project enhanced my knowledge of teaching ICT in subject contexts somewhat, as both classes I worked with were using ICT to make voice or video recordings of themselves acting as people from their chosen topic. So I was able to observe and participate in them applying the knowledge they have already acquired to the use of the ICT products. I also had to familiarise myself with Audacity and Movie Maker, which helped improve my own knowledge.
- I thought that this was a good example of the use of ICT to enhance the teaching of their history topic. The task could have been done the more traditional way of drawing a picture on paper, but the use of ICT added an element of excitement to the task for the pupils and enabled there to be at least two quite separate learning objectives - one around the use of the ICT and one around the asking of questions.
- Overall I enjoyed the day and I feel I've gained a lot from it. I've learnt the importance of breaking the program down into steps and I've learnt to not be afraid of the children getting ahead of the teacher. The project has been extremely helpful and I can't fault it in any way.
- The project did enhance my knowledge and skills of teaching excellent ICT. I found it extremely helpful to be able to watch how the class teacher introduced the new program, Scratch, to the children and then showed them what they would be able to do by the end of the day. From observing the teaching I've learnt the importance of breaking the program down into simple steps where the children can progress quickly and confidently to a more difficult activity. For example, at the beginning the children were programming their sprite to draw simple shapes such as a square or a rectangle. By the end of the day the children were beginning to create their own scenarios where sprites would interact with each other, make sounds and move between scenes.
- The project did enhance my knowledge and skills in several ways. It provided an opportunity to see what could be achieved in excellent teaching of ICT in a morning and what needed to be prepared before we taught specific skills. The work that had been prepared by the children succesfully demonstrated the structure of a recount, giving an insight into how previous lessons had progressed to allow for the excellent teaching of ICT to be possible.
- I have learnt a tremendous amount about planning, structure and grouping, not just for this lesson but for the build up and what comes after. I have a greater understanding of what children are capable of at this age, and how much this can push forward the risks I can take and new ground I need to cover in ICT to provide children with the best, most up-to-date ICT knowledge and skills in preparation for our global society. To provide excellent teaching of ICT means having a solid knowledge of the subject and ICT system in the school. Although teaching may be dependent upon technology working, excellent teaching of ICT is recognising if problems encountered with technology will be a hindrance and a frustration to the learning experience which is where plan B is employed or, the difficulties are worked through together (if possible) so that they are part of the learning journey.
- while the ICT skills we were developing were quite basic, the way in which ICT should be conveyed / taught was challenging.
- I believe that the project did not enhance my knowledge and skills as we were told to pick a topic on Purple Mash and deliver a lesson.
- We were told we would see good ICT and we did most of the work, which is great experience, but not why we were there.
The following points appeared to be significant in relation to the second evaluative question: How could the project be improved?
A mismatch between teacher and trainee expectations of the project was evident in a number of responses. This mismatch (where it occurred) appeared to be as a result of different expectations of the project in terms of the trainees' contributions. Whether observing or carrying out ICT activities, all trainees were well-supported in all the schools.
A mismatch between teacher and trainee expectations of the project was evident in a number of responses. This mismatch (where it occurred) appeared to be as a result of different expectations of the project in terms of the trainees' contributions. Whether observing or carrying out ICT activities, all trainees were well-supported in all the schools.
- I think it is important for the school and trainees to be on the same page as far as the expectations of the visit are concerned. It would have been far better for us to go in, observe how the teacher introduced, explained and implemented the lesson plan and for us to be involved with the children during the lesson.
- I felt like there wasn't much excellent ICT observed, as it was left to us to lead. Although the teaching was excellent, I felt I didn't get much in the way of 'good experience'.
- Further understanding of what is expected from us, whether we are there to observe 'excellent' ICT or to conduct lessons of ICT.
- I felt it might have been improved upon if either the school, or ourselves had a firm idea of what we were doing. During the planning meeting, we did decide between us and the teacher how the day would be constructed and which classes we would be working in, so I wasn't going in unprepared. However, during the planning meeting, it seemed as though the teachers thought we would be leading the day, whereas we thought we would be observing and participating, which led to some confusion. The day we had in the end was a great experience in terms of being in the classroom and working with the children using the microphone recorders and the video cameras.
- As we delivered the lesson ourselves we gained considerable first hand understanding of the issues involved in effective teaching of ICT and specifically how to deliver age appropriate learning opportunities. The project was therefore, highly beneficial and enjoyable.
- I think this project might be more easily achieved as part of SBT, perhaps something to be completed while associate teachers are on placement. This would mean that projects could be extended rather, in the case of the activities we did this might have worked better as a unit of work within several lessons in order to produce quality ICT from children. Also, for practicality, associate teachers will know the environment and the equipment capabilities beforehand meaning they are able to be a little more creative.
- It would also be helpful to experience a KS2 lesson also, to see the progression.
- I think it would be beneficial for there to be training in how to use an interactive white board (including calibration) before going in to schools to teach/partake in the project. It would also have been beneficial to visit the school prior to teaching there so we were more aware of the resources available and had an extra session to go over the plan with the teachers.
- The project was highly successful in providing the opportunity to teach ICT. It would be further enhanced were we able to then observe a comparable (or next steps) lesson by the class teacher.
- I would like to have tried an ICT activity in Key Stage 2 as well, even though KS1 is my preferred age phase. This activity with Key Stage 1 used basic technology and I felt confident with it so I would like the chance to practice with software that I feel less confident with, such as animation and Movie Maker.
- I would have liked the opportunity to assist in an ICT group across key stage 1 and key stage 2 showing progression of ICT.
- I feel that this ICT project should not be given to a Reception class, and if this could not be changed, then I feel it would be better suited to using a Smartboard and having a sequence of pictures ready so that the children could learn how to play, stop and pause the sequence.
- Some children had not finished their animations by the end of the session, therefore I was unable to see the results. Instead of half a day, a whole day or two half days may have been more worthwhile, to have seen an end product of the children's hard work.
- I would say that perhaps in schools where more than one trainee is present that if possible, each trainee has their own lesson as I was with 2 of my peers all day, which although I enjoyed, became a bit confusing when attempting to explain the tasks to the children as each of us wanted input.
- Can't think of anything to improve the experience! I have learnt a lot from the project.
- I feel that the project was extremely well organised. The staff at the school, in particular the class teacher we worked with were very helpful at all stages of the project and was easily contactable right up to the last minute. The day was well structured and ran smoothly and we had the chance to evaluate our day with the class teacher at the end. I do not think anything could be improved based on my experience and i feel that the whole experience was extremely beneficial to me.
- When we first met our teacher she had only just been introduced to the concept of Kerpoof. Our group then created our film and lesson plan which we emailed to her. She replied that it all looked ok. At this point prior to the lesson it would have been beneficial to have another short meeting, in school, to go over the presentation of the lesson, class layout and the practicalities of the resources we were using. We also found out that the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) was not calibrated as finely as required with the icons on Kerpoof and we resorted to demonstrating by using the keyboard on the teacher's laptop which was more finely tuned. A session to raise our confidence with using the IWB would have been beneficial.
- Even though the class-teacher had given one child in each group, the role of 'director' and had instructed the children to rotate jobs - so that each had a turn at each function - group work such as this can often start out in a frenzy of excitement with all children competing to do the more interesting jobs. However, during repetetive activites, taking place over a long period, enthusiasm can often dwindle, so that certain children will go off task, or the activity itself can lose momentum. This can be exacerbated during activites where there are not enough jobs to occupy all children at the same time. Whist this is not a criticism of this project and is clearly resource dependent, smaller group of children would probably stop this situation arising and retain focus. All groups were however, able to create a good quality, finished piece of work that was uploaded to the school server and viewed by the whole class.
- I think to improve the project there should have been a clear outline of the expectations for all students and all the schools. For example, I spent the whole day in a school whereby during the induction meeting they proposed that we all had a class each for the whole day, when fellow students were only in during a morning and were assisting in groups of two or three.
- I thought that the day went well, and it certainly helped that we were able to be there for the morning preparation session as well as the ICT session. I think that had we not been able to see the preparation, we would not have been able to achieve as much as we did in the ICT session.
- The only area in which I think that this project could be improved would be that every student, regardless of the school ought to be expected to do a similar level of teaching on their ICT days. ... perhaps it would be advisable to provide teachers from each of the schools with a mock lesson plan indicating the percentage of the lesson that the associate teachers be expected to teach.
- I think that it may have been useful to do the planning day in school as this would have given the opportunity to get familiar with the ICT set up they have in school and plan specifically to it for example, the edition of software and laptop restrictions. In addition to this, it may be a good idea to do this as the children in the class can be observed first hand. This observation could have fed into the how the structure of the morning was approached e.g. rotational teaching, children teaching each other.
And Finally ...
- ... a huge thank you to Mickle Trafford, the staff were so supportive and understanding.
- Mickle Trafford were very welcoming and the children adapted very well to having another adult in the classroom. Natalie Carter was also very helpful and made me feel much more confident about teaching the children in her class. Thank you!
- The day was highly successful thanks to the Year 4 class at Overchurch Junior School and because of the excellent support, guidance and help from Mr S. Rathe - thank you.
- The teacher, Mrs Bowle, did a brilliant job when demonstrating and introducing the software which got the children engaged quickly and many of them left saying they were looking forward to downloading the software at home- success!
- I personally feel that Jenny Bowle provided us with an appropriate amount of individual teaching time, yet was there to support us throughout the day.
- It is hard to think of anything St Peter's could have done to make us feel anymore welcomed today. We received great support from Miss Harris before and during the session. In addition we received very helpful feedback at the end of the day.
- I really enjoyed the day and Kelsall's staff were fantastic as were the pupils.
- I thoroughly enjoyed the ICT day at Bidston Avenue Primary School and certainly feel that the project enhanced my skills in teaching ICT.