Digital Classrooms

For Primary Teachers

Category Archives: Curriculum

23 Aug

Climate Change – Why it’s not hopeless and we cannot let our children think it is.

people holding banner

Conquering Climate Doomism in the classroom is vital if our children are going to grow up hopeful

The sheer scale of the challenges facing us at the minute can seem overwhelming, but Climate Doomism – thinking there is no point, nothing can be done now – is just as dangerous.

person holding a green plant
Photo by Akil Mazumder on Pexels.com

The data right now does not look good – but there are reasons to be be hopeful.

Young activists are really making a difference. From an international level with activitists such as Greta Thunberg to local influence – here in Cumbria with the excellent ‘Another Way’ set up by the inspirational Amy Bray.

The voting public are becoming more aware with climate conscious leaders such as Biden, and the recent addition of Green Party members to the Scottish Cabinet.

Emphasising the positive and looking at what impact the next generation can have will be a vital job for teachers.

Have the Facts Ready – Age appropriate, obviously – but you need to know what the science is. Knowledge can be reassuring  –  and it can help to put concerns into perspective.  Talking about what is on the news is a good first step and will allow you to see what the children already know.

Share Good News – There is so much good stuff happening out there right now – sharing success stories is important.  Negative and ‘shock factor’ news stories often get so much more publicity – which is a good discussion point with pupils.

You can find stories on sites such as https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

Encourage Action and Agency – Individual actions are important and are not futile. There are plenty of opportunities already within the school curriculum to discuss these.  Likewise, as they get older they need to see how their individual actions can affect the larger system. PSHE lessons and British Values give our children the chance to learn about rights, responsibilities and democracy. Use this to demonstrate the options they have for lobbying, or for talking to those in power. Invite local politicians in, business leaders, shop owners; keep the conversation going.

Finally, find likeminded individuals – Groups to explore the issues and what can be done. Locally, or in school, there may be youth groups already – but starting one could also provide opportunities to be useful and to share worries and concerns. 

Resources here:

The New Climate War
Michael Mann – The New Climate War – The Fight to Take Back our Planet

Books that may be useful: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/your-guide-talking-kids-all-ages-about-climate-change

Extinction Rebellion Youth: https://m.facebook.com/XRYouth/

15 Feb

What I’ve Learned Remote Teaching

person holding yellow and pink lego blocks

Teaching online, it turns out, is not that different from in the classroom… Somethings definitely take longer – especially at first – but then there are some things that are easier. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way.

Time

Timing, and that dreaded word, pace – is harder to judge when working online. Especially if you factor in any connection issues. The first time I set my class a First News based task (which would have been a lesson normally) and it took them almost all morning I realised I needed to rethink how I broke down the tasks and how I made sure they had the time. I’ve found that ideally you give them longer to think, slightly smaller tasks with less time to complete and specific time for questions using visuals – e.g. a physical clock you have with you or one shared on your screen.

Note taking

I’ve been modelling how I take notes on jamboard – especially when working with history and science topics. Sharing the screen to watch or listen to a presentation and taking notes together not only models this important skill but also gives them something to refer to later. Of course, depending on your platform – they could all contribute – but some children may find this a challenge. Equally those children who have got this skill could then lead the note taking.

Questions

Questioning is still so important – and it is easier to give all the children the chance to answer online. Depending on the platform you are using the children can reply to just you, or you give them some thinking time and then ask them all to type in at the same time. You can also ask specific children first, which then allows you to check understanding. We use Google Apps and so you can open a jamboard as well as using the chat.

You can always get them to write on paper and hold answers up as well!

Resources

This is tricky – especially at first when you don’t know what the children have at home (or they don’t know themselves) – but there are lots of ways to share video, to make use of the share screen and to give presentations. And there is some really high quality stuff out there now – we use White Rose Maths and often share screen their videos. This allows you to pause and ask the relevant questions, as well as to extend areas that you know your class need to work on. Many of the ‘home learning’ video based resurces do not require logins either – which means you can leave the links up for those children not online.

Encouraging Independence

An excellent side effect of remote learning is that the children have to learn the be slightly more independent… Of course the first step to this is encouragement – raising their confidence – sharing good examples, asking the children to explain their learning and allowing them to read out what they are proud of are all good ways of doing this. However the technology itself can also be a barrier – and so model the different ways you can present your screen, watch video, share work etc etc. Ask the children to explain to one another – teaching one another so that if they cannot get hold of the teacher, but they are finding something tricky, then they can help one another.

Other tips I have picked up along the way include planning for online and offline work – so that the children can pick up what they are doing without needing to be online all of the time.

It would be great to share any more tips that you have!

29 Oct

Tech will save us… Right?

person using black and silver laptop computer
How the small school can be supported by Ed Tech

Earlier this month government announced that the expectations for remote education are to be statutory. These expectations cover a multitude of scenarios and can be found in their guidance for full opening.

The National Association of Small Schools are offering advice in their newsletter for schools who are exploring their home-school provision, and I wrote this to support that.

Extract from government guidance.
So, where do you start?
  • Do an audit of what subscription services you pay for.
    • this might prove surprising – especially if teachers have had a bit of freedom in the past to sign up for specific services. Have a good look at what you are getting for your money.
  • Make use of the curriculum-linked services available.
    • Not to everyone’s taste I know, but check your long term curriculum plan – are some things covered within Oak Academy? Or BBC services? Can teachers make loose links now within planning which, if needed, can be tightened and shared with parents?
  • Provide training for parents in your expectations, and what services they can use from home.
    • For example, if you use Google Classroom do some online workshops with parents. They don’t need to take long, or be particularly technical, but they will provide parents with a bit of familiarity.
  • Don’ t overload yourself! There is no point in purchasing every subscription just in case, develop the technical know how with what you have.

Finding the Right Service

It can be tricky to find services and support – every school has a different context. Start by thinking what you need the tech to do – for example something that can be used both at school and home – a way for parents and teachers to communicate, something to share files or something to allow real-time online lessons. Services such as Google G Suite, Microsoft 360, cover everything, including video chat and online apps. Some, such as Showbie and Tapestry allow for interaction between home and school and sharing files.

Asking schools in similar situations to yourself can be helpful as well – especially if you have local expertise and people who are willing to help train staff.

It should be said that I am a big fan of Google G Suite for Education – for a small school it really does provide everything you need.

Communication is Key

And luckily tech can help here – whether it is messaging families, or staying in touch during a lockdown. Social media can be a great way to get in touch with parents – just try not to use your own personal account. Creating groups for each class can mean the teacher can share updates in one go – and choosing a service carefully will also mean that you can share it with parents in advance. Linking to key updates on Facebook, creating a dedicated space on the school website and text messages reminding parents of where resources can be found are some ways that communication can help.

Put your provision on paper…

You need to be clear about what you can offer – no point in saying there will be daily maths and literacy lessons if your teachers have no access to the internet at home. Aim for weekly contact, and then some sessions, such as reading, which give a bit of connection with the teacher,

Ensure that parents and governors are all aware and make staff expectations reasonable. Small schools, with mixed age classes, particular need to ensure they are realistic – teaching online can be tricky and in some cases providing workbooks for classes may make life much easier.

Increase engagement

Finally, consider that families may find it tricky to keep engagement going – even if they do have the devices and the internet connection needed.

  • Have a set contact time each day – whether for answering / replying to emails of for video chats. A routine will be beneficial for staff and pupils and will help parents to manage expectations.
  • Share information in different formats – e.g. weekly overviews can be sent via Google Classroom and put on the website in PDF format.
  • Continue with school routines – e.g. whole school assemblies that follow the same format. Virtual meetings for groups like the School Council.
  • Create teacher videos, or record the online lessons – this will mean they can be watched at any time.
  • Train your pupils – for example our older children are using Google Classroom habitually now so that if they need to use it at home it’s familiar. Some classes watch a bit of Oak Academy, or use apps available at home, so that they will understand their use if they are at home.

Do you have any top tips or questions? Please let us know in the comments!



03 Aug

Taking a Primary School Online

I’m not going to pretend that I am an expert in this.

Having taken the opportunity to reflect on what has been a memorable few months I wanted to evaluate some of the learning that has taken place online within our primary school. I hope that these thoughts will go some way to developing my own practice; and maybe supporting others who are thinking of the best way to get online and support learning during another potential lockdown.

To give you an idea of what we were doing: Once it became clear that schools were shutting we did our best to give them relevant and interesting work that would challenge. Of course, we did not know how long this would last.

Develop your own knowledge

  • it was important for me before embarking on something new to arm myself with the experience and knowledge of others first. I started here – with a Future Learn course that connected me with others who were just starting out on this path.
  • We also made sure that the online systems we used – mainly in Key Stage 2 – were ones in which the children and staff were well versed. We use Google Apps and Google Classrooms in school – we turned on hangouts (more of that later) – and spoke to the children about the best way to contact us if they needed help.

Access for all?

We are a small, rural school whose children are geographically spread. Some of our families do not have decent wi-fi and some do not have enough devices for children to access learning at the same time. As we had sent home work, we decided after the Easter Break to start doing weekly learning grids and lessons, with clear links to resources, where available. These were put on the school website, or emailed out as appropiate.

We were however reluctant to do regular online classes / assemblies (at this point!)

  • We loaned out the school chromebooks where possible – and encouraged parents to contact us if they needed support.
  • We encouraged parents to contact us – giving out email adresses to individual teachers.
  • We started a weekly whole school assembly via Google Meets and then Zoom. This started with a special guest (our local vicar) – which meant that families tried really hard to get there.
  • Regular phone calls to families who might be seen as vulnerable (but who may not have been on Free School Meals.)
  • We used social media liberally. A ‘running’ – distance – challenge via our facebook account. Enocurage to share work and pictures; link sharing etc.etc. We found that many parents, and the wider community, enjoyed sharing photos and ideas this way.
  • Weekly online creative writing class and code club. These were a natural fit online as they were already taking place in school – especially code club which allowed the older children to chat and support one another in problem solving.
  • Google Hangouts was used for the pupils to contact teachers – teachers told the pupils when they were online and checked in with pupils via Google Classroom. (Key Stage 2). This proved very useful, but had to be strictly managed as many children would happily sit online chatting with their teachers for ever…

In it for the long haul…

Once we realised that only a small number of children were going to be coming back into school before September we began to increase the online presence of our teachers.

  • Weekly zoom meetings for all classes were held.
  • For the younger classess this meant a book being read, or some simple online number and phonic work.
  • For the older children they were able to discuss any problems with the work set that week – and ask for help if needed.
  • EYFS and KS1 teachers recorded themselves reading a book – and these were put on the website.
  • We provided physical work books in Maths Y1- Y6 – herocially these were delivered by hand by the teachers – and proved very popular with parents and children alike. So much so that we also provided workbooks for Reading and Writing for the younger children as well.

How did we do?

Once we got into a routine and school started opening for more children our attention turned to September. And so, we needed to know how parents had found the last few months. SOme findings were clear and will directly impact our work in September:

  • Online meetings and short lessons were useful – BUT – some found them overwhelming. Flexibility seemed to be the key.
  • Keeeping children enagaged and enthusiastic is tricky.. whole school assembly went some way to alleviate this, but the main support seemed to be teachers chatting 1:1 with these children. Whether this will be something we can scale up in the event of further lockdown is worth thinking about.
  • Paper / workbooks / exercise books are worth their weight in gold. Put simple we are too worried about exercise books and children’s work ‘looking the part’ – we need to ensure that there is some way for work at home and school to be seamless next term and if that means books getting dog-eared between home and school then so be it.
  • We need to develop Parents’ confidence with the apps and the infrastructure we use for online learning – e.g. Google Apps / Drive / Book Creator and so on.

I’m not sure what we will be doing in September – at time of writing the expectations for schools are still unclear. However I will take any time we have with the pupils and parents in school to prepare for further lockdown.

29 Jul

EdTech round up of 2018-9

Getting back to my roots now with a look at two new bits (and one not so new) of of actually useful edtech that has graced my school this year!


Reusable Notebooks – Rocketbook

The idea of a reuseable notebook is not new. And there a few on the market. The premise is pretty simple – a book full of whiteboard paper that you can then photograph to save automatically to where ever you need. E.g. an email address (with text recognition) or an online drive space (as a JPEG or file). It makes us of QR codes and preallocated menus to allow you to specifcy where you want them to go. The Rocketbook then has pages which, depending on the model, allows you to wipe with water or just wipe off as you would a dry wipe pen. https://getrocketbook.com/

So how did I make use of it? Obviously as a reusable whiteboard – but the ability to photograph what’s on there and have it stored somewhere is more useful than you think; make a list then email it straight from the meeting; children’s collaboration sent to a shared space; your own notes stored safely. I found it become more and more useful as I got used to it.

In the classroom I use them for children who might work on whiteboards more, but still need evidence of lesson work or progress. Children who may want the reassurance of writing on a whiteboard, to be able to rub it away and start again. As a google apps school all of our children can access their own drive and so they snap the book with an iPad or chrome book (just download the app) and the page is saved to their space. They can make their own notes and save them – it also saves paper!

Classroom Robots: Marty the Robot

There are plenty of classroom robots available – and all of a similar cost with seemingly similar features. What sets the Marty apart is the ease of use – and the results that go along with it. I’ve mentioned before that we are a Google Apps school – children have easier access to chrome books rather than windows laptops or iPads – this can pose some problems for apps needed to run robots and devices etc. The Marty robot runs from a variety of systems and is set up using its own network with router. With instructions so simple my (pupil) digital leaders set them up. Various options for programming languages that can be block based (via scratch) – or code (via python) – it will be recognisable to most KS2 classrooms. The developers behind this kit say 10-18, but I would stretch that to Key Stage 2. To make the trial even easier you can borrow these robots first too.

https://robotical.io/

The Rasberry Pi

I know, this isn’t new, but I think they are criminally underused in Primary Schools. They have come into their own for us this year as the last of our desktop PC’s died and we had their monitors and keyboards left. If you’re not sure what they are – look here. They are cut down, no frills PC’s which have the power, and flexibility, to do pretty much anything you need. Various operating systems are available (I use the NOOBS one) and they come readied with software such as scratch, word processing and internet access. NOOBS even comes with a networkable version of Minecraft which my pupils have loved. The Rasperry Pi works on many levels: it’s budget friendly, it makes use of old equipment and cables, it contains a wealth of software which is very Primary school friendly and it helps the pupils learn about the workings of a PC as they can physically see all the bits. Definitely cheap enough to give them a try.

Have you discovered any useful EdTech this year?

02 Jun

Online CPD to tackle Climate Change

I have written about the usefulness and scope of MOOCs before – although their use as specific teacher CPD has always been a bit tenuous. The United Nations has had an excellent online repository of courses connected to Climate Change and Climate Literacy for some time, (UNCCLearn). Now for the first time, these are open to teachers with the aim to have accredited Climate Change teachers in every area. A partnership with Harwood Education, and sponsored by YPO you can find out more here. These courses are incredibly accessible – like all good online offerings they are put forward in several different ways (Video, PowerPoint, PDF etc) – and, upon the completion of five key courses you will receive an official accreditation.

Here are the courses on offer:

  • Introduction to Climate Change Science (no certificate)
  • Children and Climate Change (certificate)
  • Cities and Climate Change (certificate)
  • Human Health and Climate Change (certificate)
  • Gender and Environment (certificate)
  • International Legal Regime (certificate)

Certificates are awarded from the UN CC:Learn website when the person takes and passes the quiz with a score of 70% or above. There is a quiz for each certificate course AND…there is a 3-Attempt limit per person. 

People who want to learn the information that comes from the United Nations’ experts from over  190 countries have two main choices: 1) just accessing and studying the course material without taking the quizzes/earning certification and 2) accessing, studying and taking the quizzes/earning certification for fully funded/free of charge CPD (Continued Professional Development) credit.

Explainer Video

Of course, the issue of teacher subject knowledge, particularly in Primary is a thorny one. Teachers tend to be a bit ‘jack of all trades’ – for schools keeping on top of changing curricula or an ever-growing issue such as Climate Change is a challenge. This is why free online offerings, backed by prestigious institutions and with teacher-specific accreditation is a trend to encourage. Climate Change is, of course, the ultimate challenge for our future and the information, ideas and concepts presented are something we should all be aware of. As schools move towards taking responsibility for their own sustainability or eco-awareness knowledgeable teachers will be at the forefront of this.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I myself completed this course and found it incredibly interesting and very useful. I thoroughly recommend it.