Reflection on the module

Summarise and reflect on your own significant learning from this module. Identify its implications for your future role as an English or ICT subject leader. Make links to relevant readings.


I have enjoyed engaging with this module as it has been effective in developing my knowledge of digital literacies in the classroom.  As it is a key theme within the new national curriculum (DfE, 2013), I have enjoyed seminars and reading to gain a greater understating of how digital media and technology can be used effectively in the primary classroom.  Higgins (2001) described ICT in the primary school at the turn of the millennium as a ‘complex tool which can be used by teachers and by pupils in teaching and learning’ (Higgins, 2001: 164).  This has required all teachers to develop their own practical ICT skills in order to keep in touch with its every changing landscape.  Research into this has pointed out that young children need to be educated in new digital literacies (Dean, 2010, Marsh, Brooks, Hughes, Ritchie, Roberts and Wright, 2005, Palfrey and Gasser, 2008), a subject highlighted in seminars in week 6.  This has led me to critically evaluate how I have used technology in the classroom over my previous school experiences.  I have found there are many areas in which I can explore in my next school experience and I will have the confidence to test the children’s and my own knowledge of digital literacy due to the focus we have enjoyed on this module.


There have been several interesting seminar sessions that has broadened and challenged my perceptions of using ICT in the primary classroom, new digital literacies and multimodal texts.  Looking at how comics and popular culture could be used in the classroom was something I had not seen and thought about at any length before.  By using mediums of literacy like comic books, which have been described previously as ‘cultural junk’ (Tilley, 2013), in the classroom; I feel they bring a fresh approach that not only engages children, especially boys, but also adds another dimension to the developing literacies of children.  This can be through the stages of development of a child’s story; from the draft though to the digital final draft via a comic book creator website such as Comic Life.


By going into a school to help contextualise the theory we have learnt from this module helped me enormously as it has helped me visualise how interactive technology can be used effectively in the classroom.  Hargreaves, Moyles, Merry, Paterson, Pell and Esarte-sarries (2008) describe interactivity in two broad forms.  The first form contains classifications which denote a surface form of interactive teaching such as the use of small whiteboards or phoneme fans, intended to make life easier for the teacher.  The second form contains classifications which encourages a deeper level of engagement and interactivity from the children to ensure co-construction of meaning.  The 'talking book' created with the children from Shirley Warren was not something intended to be a gimmick or a cross curricula activity bolted onto to the weekly plan, but as something to engage, challenge and develop the thinking of the children (Beauchamp, 2012).  Smith (2005) defines this as pedagogic interactivity; where the teacher focuses not on what is done with the technology but why and how it is done.


References

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: from pedagogy to practice. Harlow: Pearson.

Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage


DfE. (2013) The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document. London: DfE

Hargreaves, L., Moyles, J., Merry, R., Paterson, F., Pell, A. and Esarte-Sarries, V. (2003) 'How do primary school teachers define and implement 'interactive teaching' in the National Literacy Strategy in England?', Research Papers in Education, Vol. 19 (3), pp.217-236


Higgins, S. (2001) ‘ICT and Teaching for Understanding’, Evaluation and Research in Education, Vol. 15 (3), pp. 164-171

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S. and Wright, K (2005) Digital Beginnings: Young Children’s Use of Popular Culture, Media and New technologies

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books


Smith (2005)


Tilley, C. (2013) ‘Superman Says, ‘Read!’ - National Comics and Reading Promotion’. Children's Literature in Education, Vol. 44 [3], pp.251-263

Module Reflection

During this module I feel I have learnt invaluable skills for my future practice. I feel my confidence has increased when using new technology and digital devices as well as a better knowledge of devices and programmes that can benefit children’s learning.

There is such an importance to feeling confident and willing to use technology (as a teacher) in the classroom due to our fast paced society. Dean (2009: 56) reiterates this by suggesting it is essential for teachers to use a range of media to support literacy, ‘as it is necessary in this modern world to be equally fluent in the multiple forms of language which through society communicates with itself’. Furthermore the new National Curriculum supports the education provided through the subject computing, to ensure pupils become digitally literate ‘as active participants in a digital world’ (DfE, 2013: 178). Skills developed from digital literacy are invaluable as they can be applied to all areas of life including, the ability to creatively engage in particular social practices, social identities and to form or maintain social relationships (Jones and Hafner, 2012: 12). Therefore, implications for my future practice result in the inclusion of digital devices and technology to develop individual’s skills which are essential in the world children are growing up in.

Despite the range of support for the use of technology in the classroom, there are certain views which are against this and highlight the potential dangers the internet and being online can expose. Palmer (2006) argues that by children being allowed to access new media and technologies is authorizing them to live in a mental warzone, consisting of violence and antisocial behaviour which can impact negatively on children’s learning and behaviour.

Views  such as Palmers have increased my awareness of potential harmful dangers. However I feel that this just adds to my understanding and confidence, leading me to be able to educate individuals to protect themselves online and use technology as a productive resource. It is undeniable that devices such as Nintendo’s, wii’s, laptops or tablets take up a major bulk of children’s present popular culture. The benefits of using popular culture, media and/or new technologies in the literacy curriculum can have a positive effect on the motivation and engagement of children in learning; practitioners report that it has a positive impact on children’s progress in speaking and listening and literacy (Marsh, Brooks, Hughes, Ritchie, Roberts & Wright 2005 :6).

Further, Frey and Fisher (2008:1) suggest visual literacies (identified through new media and technologies) enable learners to make connections, determine importance, synthesize information, evaluate and critique; a basis for a more complete understanding. The amount of literature to support the use of new media, technology and popular culture in schools lead me to believe and trust the benefits they can have on children's learning. Particularly the modern day child or as Palfrey and Gasser would suggest 'digital natives' (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008).

To conclude, this module has provided me with practical benefits as well as feeling I can link and support the benefits with literature. The visits to Shirley Warren has had a positive impact on my thoughts and ideas towards digital literacies as well as providing implications for my own practice. I am certain it has provided a long term impact on my attitude and outlook of using technology across all subject areas and year groups. Therefore allowing me to be the best teacher I can be through using cross curricular links between ICT and Literacy to ultimately, enthuse, engage and excite my pupils.

 
Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in: Bazalgette, C. (ed) Teaching Media in Primary Schools London: Sage

DfE (2013) The National Curriculum in England 2014 [online] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244223/PRIMARY_national_curriculum3.pdf (Accessed 1st April 2014)

Frey, N.E. & Fisher, D.B. (2008) Teaching Visual Literacy London: Sage

Jones, R.H. & Hafner, C.A. (2012) Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction Abingdon: Routledge

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S. and Wright, K. (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies Literacy Research Centre: The University of Sheffield

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives Basic Books: New York

Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It London: Orien  

Week 11 - Multimedia and Multiliteracies in the Primary School: Linking Theory and Practice (Part 2)

Our second school visit to Shirley warren Primary School had us working with the children to produce a ‘talking book’ to explain how Shirley Warren support the Children’s Rights.

The whole of our group was looking forward to working with the children to see what they could create and to also assess the digital literacy skills of this Year 1 class.  The ICT co-ordinator had already informed us that 29 out 30 of his class had access to an iPad outside the school in some form and therefore had a basic understanding of how to use an iPad and navigate its applications.

The challenges faced on this school visit included how to assess the children on their skills of using ICT, in this case iPads and apps.  The first hurdle we faced was not knowing the capabilities and skills of the children we would be working with (this would of course be different when working with our own classes).  However, I found it challenging to know how to move or progress the children’s skills; specifically to be able to create suitable objectives and aims for the children to work towards.

 

I have therefore identified a gap in my ICT content knowledge regarding progression and assessment of children’s ICT skills.  I will subsequently require to research into these areas, with which I hope to gain a deeper and broader understanding of how to assess the progression of children’s ICT skills.  This in turn will hopefully give me a clearer view of how to embed ICT into the curriculum more effectively.  I feel this is because I will know what skills the children would be needing when planning cross curricula activities with ICT.

Week 9 – Multimedia and multi literacies in the primary school: Linking Theory and Practice (Part 1)

This week we had the great opportunity of visiting Shirley Warren Primary School in Southampton.  The main aim of the visit was to see how technology is implemented throughout the school and to then in the coming weeks create a ‘Talking Book’ with a group of Year 1 children.  From my experiences and research into creating my blog posts for this module I have found that digital technology has had a positive impact on children’s learning (Byron, 2007; Ofsted, 2011; Palfrey and Gasser, 2008).  It will be interesting to see if the school uses ICT to develop the children within three purposes of education; individual, formal learning and society (Beauchamp, 2012: 30).

I was excited to see how technology in the school is used to create an engaging curriculum.  As digital media is an important part of children’s lives (Buckingham, 2007); I was interested to see if the school had created a good balance of appealing lessons with the use of technology to engage and motivate the children.  The use of Apple TV, connected to every IWB via AirPlay, is a very useful tool that allows the sharing of data and information between children and allows the teaching on iPads to be a more social and engaging concept.  I enjoyed seeing this technology in action and feel this would get the children to be using the technology purposefully to collaborate and organise digital content (DfE, 2013).

The radio station at Shirley Warren was something I was not expecting.  To build a fully functional and working radio station in the school was a joy to see.  I was interested to see how this was used to get children, who had not necessarily had the best relationship in school, to participate and contribute to the wider school community.  I feel the radio station is a unique feature to the school and would be hard to replicate in other schools due to cost and space limitations.  However, it has brought to my attention how the school is trying different and unique strategies to maximise the children’s potential with literacy.  I was also surprised to see a Nintendo Wii area for the children to participate in games with each other.  The ICT co-ordinator made it clear that this area was used as a reward to children with good behaviour or good work.  This would clearly be a huge motivator for some children to do well in school whilst also promoting healthy gaming due to the Wii’s mostly body active games collection.

Overall I was impressed with the commitment by Shirley Warren to promote and develop children’s digital literacies throughout the curriculum.  This was in part due to the enthusiastic ICT co-ordinator at the school who acknowledged he had fought for funding to make the school realise its potential to help develop children’s digital literacy.  The visit to the school has certainly given me confidence to embrace technology in the classroom even further with the aim of developing children’s digital literacy. To ideally help them to use, develop ideas and express themselves with technology to ‘a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world’ (DfE, 2013: 178).

References

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: from pedagogy to practice. Harlow: Pearson.

Buckingham, D. (2007) Beyond technology: children's learning in the age of digital culture. Cambridge: Polity.

Byron, T. (2008) Safer Children in a Digital World: The Report of the Byron Review [online] http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7332/1/Final%20Report%20Bookmarked.pdf (accessed 27/03/2014)

DfE. (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document. London: DfE

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008). Born digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. New York: Basic Books.

Reflection on the module

Reflecting on this module, I have been introduced to many new concepts and ideas regarding literacy learning, some of which have been challenging.  I have learnt a significant amount during this module and it will provide implications for my future role as an English subject leader.

I now have a sound knowledge of what literacy means in the 21^st century and how this impacts on today’s children, with the main notion of children being ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001) which supports the use of new literacies and media in the classroom.  This is because children are growing up with this technology and as teachers we need to prepare them for their role as a future digital citizen, as outlined by the National Curriculum (DFE/QCA, 2013).  A critical factor is the anxiety of dismissing traditional pen and paper writing methods and reading books.  Dean (2010:53) states that the written word was the “currency of success”, which questions the new technology, especially as new media within the home has been blamed for lower literacy standards over the last century (Dean, 2010).  As an implication for my future teaching, I will ensure that technology is used to enhance learning opportunities and not overtake the traditional methods.

I have learnt that 21^st century literacy incorporates the use of graphic novels and comics.  Undeniably, children’s attention spans increase when something interests them (Prensky, 2001), supporting the use of new media and popular culture in the classroom.  Linking back to the home context, Dean (2010) considers that graphic novels are popular with boys.  Therefore, an increase in reading could be achieved if reading preferences are brought into the learning environment.  Although there are controversial debates regarding popular culture in the classroom, including comics’ disproval due to promotion of violence and passivity of women (Millard and Marsh, 2001), they can offer a variety of learning opportunities.  Having studied popular culture and being exposed to the vast amount of learning opportunities, I will endeavour to incorporate it into my teaching.

Having explored Web.2 technologies and new literacies in the seminar, I am fully aware how I can integrate this within my teaching, particularly by using ‘Jigzone’, for example, to act as a stimulus to a new topic.  Additionally, I understand how blogs and podcasts can be used by children in school to widen teaching and learning opportunities, enhancing reading, speaking and listening skills.  Moreover, from using ‘Book Creator’ at Shirley Warren, I have learnt that it can provide a wide variety of learning experiences, especially for those children who struggle with the written word.  It allows for children’s expression without hesitance.  Although these technologies are educationally beneficial, E-Safety has to be considered.  Children are inevitably going to be exposed to and able to access inappropriate material on the internet.  As the Byron Review (2008) (online) suggests, supported by Becta (2010), practitioners need to teach children to manage these risks in order to stay safe.  Therefore, I will train myself concerning the current legal requirements and ensure the safeguarding of children in my future teaching career.

Furthermore, having learnt about the debates over advertising, I am aware of how I can incorporate this into teaching.  It is a controversial issue within today’s society as young children may not understand the intentions of the advertisers and begin to ‘pester power’ (Stanbrook, 1997).  Advertisements can cause children to become vulnerable, especially young girls who aim to buy products to heighten their self-image as this is what they are being exposed to.  Therefore, I have a knowledgeable understanding about how I am going to teach advertising to children as it is such a current issue.  Children need to be taught about the purpose of them and this can be incorporated throughout cross-curricular tasks.  The pressures on the school curriculum unfortunately put limited emphasis on the teaching of adverts (Gunter, Oates and Blades, 2005), thus I will have to ensure that children have the knowledge instilled in them to prevent naivety.

To conclude, I have experienced and learnt many significant aspects regarding media, multiliteracies, multimedia and technology and now feel more confident in using them in the classroom.  As an implication for my future role as an English subject leader, I understand how I can link literacy learning with ICT to expand and enhance the curriculum.  As the National Curriculum states, children should be “able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world” (DFE/QCA, 2013:188).  I have heightened my technological knowledge within this module and although challenges will undeniably ensue within its use, many educational opportunities arise from it and I aim to enthuse, engage and motivate the children I teach.

 

Bibliography

Becta (2010) Safeguarding in a digital world: An overview for learning providers. Coventry: Author (accessed 25/03/14) http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/behaviour/qsaav/docs/safeguarding-digital-world-learning-providers.pdf

 

Byron Review (2008) Safer Children in a Digital World: The Report of the Byron Review. Nottingham: DCSF (accessed 25/03/14) http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7332/1/Final%20Report%20Bookmarked.pdf

 

Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage

 

DFE/QCA (2013) The National Curriculum in England, DFE/QCA

 

Gunter, B. Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Millard, E. and Marsh, J. (2001) ‘Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 31 (1)

Prenksy, M (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? in On the Horizon 9 (6)

 

Week 8 - Internet Safety in the Classroom

Children use ICT in their everyday lives at home and at school.  The internet is very popular with all children and offers a wide range of opportunities for fun, learning and development (Becta, 2007 and Byron, 2008).  However, with the advent of Web 2.0, web-based technologies that emphasize collaboration and sharing among users, children are no longer passive viewers online but active creators of digital content (Becta, 2007).  By engaging at younger ages and being active contributors; children are at risk of viewing unappropriated content or becoming in contact with strangers that could lead the children outside the safety net provided by teachers and parents from a young age.  The new national curriculum (DfE, 2013) outlines internet safety, or e-safety, as being able to use the technology safely and respectfully while identifying what to do and where they can go for support about content or contact they come across on the internet.


These risks have led to policies in schools that have a zero tolerance stance for children accessing certain content online.  These policies, similar to ones I have come across on school experience, tend to block some websites that the policy makers deem inappropriate.  However, these blocked websites do not reflect the reality of children’s everyday experiences of using the internet for academic and social means (Beauchamp, 2012; Cranmer, Selwyn and Potter, 2009).  Websites I have seen blocked, YouTube, Sparklebox and social websites, have been blocked for different reasons.  Although, these measures at school reduce the risks for children at school, what good are those measures when the children are at home and are free to access any content they wish away from the classroom and its restrictions?  This is why, as Beauchamp argues, that e-safety should not be about restricting children but about educating them in how to deal with these situations if they do arise when unsupervised (Beauchamp, 2012).  This view is echoed by Ofsted (2010) who describe the best practices of e-safety as getting the children to assess the risks of sites they use; this would then lead to the children independently adopting safe practices when accessing the internet.  This means that the children are monitoring their own online experience and know what to do when something goes wrong.


The Byron Review (2007) identified ‘3 C’s of e-safety’ (Byron, 2007: 16) that schools can use to educate children about the different risks associated with being online.  These are content, contact and conduct.  Content regards inappropriate material the children may find online such as adverts, spam, personal information, and misleading information.  Contact relates to the contact of someone online who may wish to abuse or bully the child.  Conduct refers to the activities the child may engage in that may place them in vulnerable situations.  This could include the child being the perpetrator of inappropriate activities including illegal downloading, hacking, gambling, bullying or uploading inappropriate material.  The grid in the Byron Review gives scope and structure to the many and at times overlapping factors that can be deemed as risks for children.


I have come across a collective consensus that children cannot always be guarded and fully shield children from the risks associated with the internet, we can however, educate them to become resilient.  Therefore, the key message when educating children about e-safety is that it is not about preventing children from having fun or from them taking full advantage of the internet that is at their fingertips; but to make sure they do it as safely as possible, giving peace of mind to teachers and parents when children are exploring the internet independently (Byron Review, 2007).  If teachers and parents are able to get this strong message across to children they will be setting themselves up for a safe future whilst still being able to enjoy the varied and rich content available on the internet.


Useful Sources


While researching for this blog I came across numerous websites and articles that I felt were important for educating teachers and parents about raising the awareness of e-safety to children; inside and outside the classroom.


The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) (online) Training and Knowledge Sharing [online] http://ceop.police.uk/Knowledge-Sharing/


Childnet. (online) Know IT All Resources [online] http://www.childnet.com/resources/kia/


DfCSF. (2009) Cyberbullying: Supporting School Staff [online] http://www.digizen.org/downloads/cyberbullying_teachers.pdf


Webwise. (online) Surfwise Educational Programme – teachers handbook [online] http://moodle2-rsc.kent.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=275


References


Becta. (2007) Signposts to safety: Teaching e-safety at Key Stages 1 and 2. London: Becta


Byron, T. (2008) Safer Children in a Digital World: The Report of the Byron Review


The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) (online) Training and Knowledge Sharing [online] http://ceop.police.uk/Knowledge-Sharing/ (accessed 24/03/2014)


Childnet. (online) Know IT All Resources [online] http://www.childnet.com/resources/kia/ (accessed 24/03/2014)


Cranmer, S., Selwyn, N. and Potter, J. (2009) ‘Exploring primary pupils’ experiences and understandings of ‘e-safety’’, Education and Information Technologies, Vol. 14, pp. 127-142


DfCSF. (2009) Cyberbullying: Supporting School Staff [online] http://www.digizen.org/downloads/cyberbullying_teachers.pdf (accessed 25/03/2014)


DfE. (2013) The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document. London: DfE


Ofsted. (2010) The safe use of new technologies. Manchester: Ofsted


Webwise. (online) Surfwise Educational Programme – teachers handbook [online] http://moodle2-rsc.kent.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=275 (accessed 26/03/2014)

Reflection on the Module

Summarise and reflect on your own significant learning from this module. Identify its implications for your future role as an English or ICT subject leader. Make links to relevant readings.

This module has been extremely beneficial in my preparation to become an ICT subject leader as it has covered relevant educational debates that often occur in the Primary classroom and has presented both challenges and surprises to myself.

Prior to this module, I felt confident in my use of ICT in the Primary classroom as I thoroughly enjoy incorporating ICT across the curriculum. However, the breadth of ICT that could provide fantastic learning opportunities such as, comics and media literacies surprised me. As researched, many teachers do not feel confident using such media in the classroom however; many benefits and opportunities have been uncovered through reading which has persuaded me to be prepared to use a range of ICT in the classroom and not just the interactive whiteboard and computers. Beauchamp (2012) suggests that ICT has become a regular tool in the Primary classroom and teachers need to be ready to adapt their teaching pedagogy and learn new ICT skills regularly. Furthermore, throughout this module I feel I have adapted my approach to teaching with digital literacies.  The module has allowed me to reflect greatly on my own learning and my views on educational debates. To my surprise, I found myself wanted to argue my point, with reason, to people to show them how ICT can provide fantastic opportunities for all types of learners.

I thoroughly enjoyed discussing and researching using comics in the Primary classroom. Before writing the blog, I would not have attempted to use comics because the view that some teachers and parents have on comics may be negative so it presents a risk (Syma & Veiner, 2013). However, after researching I found myself wanting to incorporate comics into my lessons as they can support all learner’s abilities as, Frey and Fisher (2008) suggest, graphic novels and comics can target all types of readers by supporting a struggling reader, motivating a reluctant reading and challenging a high level reader. This inspired me to be aware of how comics can introduce a topic or provide an alternative approach to teaching speech and emotion.

An implication for my future practise is to ensure that I am using a range of digital literacies effectively. The module has provided some fantastic resources and ideas however, for the resources to help the children’s learning, I need to research and take time to ensure the resources are aiding learning and are effective rather than using the resource as an ‘add-on’ to the lesson. The Future Lab (2010) supports this suggesting that it is the teachers who have the knowledge and understanding that can support children’s use of digital literacy. Therefore, it is my responsibility to use digital literacies effectively and appropriately.

The experience at Shirley Warren was extremely beneficial as I gained the ability to allow the children to create and design their own work, rather than trying to influence my ideas on them. I was nervous giving such young children a big responsibility but the end result was fantastic and was better than my original idea. The teachers in the school were so passionate about using ICT across the curriculum and I felt inspired to create the same passion and enthusiasm in my own classroom.

I am looking forward to providing children with such fantastic opportunities for learning through incorporating ICT across the Primary curriculum.

Bibliography

Beauchamp, G (2012) ICT in the Primary School, From Pedagogy to Practise. Essex: Pearsons Education Ltd

Frey, N and Fisher, D (2008) Teaching Visual Literacy. Corwin Press: California

Futurelab. (2010) Digital literacy across the curriculum. London: Becta.

Syma, C.K & Weiner, R (2013) Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom: North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc Publishers

QCA/UKLA (2004) More than words: Multimodal texts in the classroom London: QCA.

UKLA (2004) support this view by stating that using technology across the curriculum provides greater learning opportunities as the children are incorporating the technology across a range of subjects.

Reflection on the module

From reflecting back on this module, there are some clear ideas which have challenged my own teaching practice and ideas. I have found this module very beneficial for my own skills development as well as understanding the importance of incorporating I.C.T. into the different curriculum areas, such as literacy and mathematics etc., especially when considering the new national curriculum (2013) and the way society is progressing.

This module has allowed me to gain a deepened understanding of how childhood has changed due to the new and improved technologies now available to children, for example iPads and iBooks. These technologies highlight the way society is moving and how children are surrounded by technology nowadays. Therefore, for my future practice it is vital that children are taught these essential technological skills for them to remain fully functioning within society and be given opportunities for the development of such skills, which is supported by Dean (2010). Dean (2010) then furthers by conveying the importance of children’s literacy skills being developed by a variety of different ‘texts’, including more traditional written texts, typed texts, online websites, multimodal books etc., in order for them to make progress within society. Additionally, Palfrey and Gasser (2008) claim that children are now seen as ‘digital natives’ in our society due to their technological competence, which demonstrates the need for them to be supported in these skills.

On the other hand, children still need to understand the importance of spelling, learning to spell and writing instead of typing. Arthur (2004) and Merchant (2001) argue that with more of a focus on the use of technology within the classroom children do not seem the relevance and importance of learning to spell or spelling correctly as they have programmes which can automatically correct their ideas (such as spell check etc).

In addition to this, the module has made me think about the importance of internet safety and children’s exposure to the internet’s content. Palfrey and Gasser (2008), Palmer (2006) and Papadopoulos (2010) all highlight internet and technological issues when using these new technologies within the classroom. However, I feel that as teachers it is essential that we educate children on how to be safe and provide opportunities for the children to ask questions in a safe and supportive environment, giving them independence which links to the new national curriculum (2013).

In conclusion, I feel this module has allowed me to develop my own teaching practice and ideas as well as enhance my own literacy and technology skills. Although  there are bound to be issues when using different technologies within the classroom, such as using iPads within a class of thirty some children with only two adults for support, there are more clear and potential benefits for using technology in the classroom. In my opinion, children need to be exposed to this in order to remain within society and to ensure that their education in all areas is relevant and useful to them.  

Bibliography

-         Arthur, L. (2004) Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Modern Childhood Oxon: Routledge Falmer

-           Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage

-          Merchant, G. (2001) ‘Teenagers in cyberspace: language use and language change in Internet chatrooms’ Journal of Research in Reading 24:3 (pp 293-306).  

-          Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Basics Books. New York

-         Papadopoulos , L. (2010) Sexualisation of Young People Review Home Office (Executive Summary – link on LN)http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http://homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexualisation-young-people2835.pdf?view=Binary 

-         Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It London: Orien  

Multimedia and multi literacies in the primary school: Linking theory and Practice - second school visit

Visiting the local primary school for our second visit proved to be a little daunting, yet very exciting.  We were given a group of six children to work with to create a talking book using the app ‘Book Creator’.  Having already trialled using this app in a university seminar and during the first school visit, I felt more confident with its use.  However, I was initially apprehensive regarding how to corroborate all of the media that was to be produced into one talking book, especially as we were using three separate Ipads.  Therefore, working as a group and also having the support of the two Shirley Warren teachers was beneficial.  As was stated, this was a learning experience for everyone, therefore I learnt alongside my peers and the children.  Group work allowed the sharing of ideas, creating an enhanced learning experience.  This initial challenge was due to me not having had much experience of the technology, causing some anxiety.  However, this challenge was overcome at the end of the visit having experimented with the technology as a group.

The main thing that stood out working with the children was the difference in enthusiasm.  A couple of children, in particular, stood out more regarding their eagerness to contribute.  This made it a little trickier handing out the parts for the videos as some children did not want to participate as much.  There could be many reasons for this, possibly due to timidity having just met and working with three different adults.  However, my peers and I were empathetic and included every child.  As time went on, the children who initially seemed shy came out of their shell.  This was highly evident with an EAL child who wanted to be the news presenter.  Her enthusiasm to contribute was outstanding and we overcome the challenge of not fully understanding the speech by adding subtitles to the whole of the combined video, encompassing inclusion.

Being handed the Ipads to experiment with some apps, the children were instantly engaged and had fun investigating.  It was surprising to see how well the children used the Ipad and the apps.  I suspect this was because technology is widely used within the school and is effectively integrated into the curriculum.  Moreover, these children are ‘digital natives’ and have grown up with this technology (Prensky, 2001).

A question that arose for me in my previous blog post was how well the children would react to the ideas my group had already created for our chosen article, ‘to be the best that you can be’.  Due to the time limit, we had a skeleton plan for what our talk book would incorporate.  The children all agreed and understood our plan.  However, I was conscious that it was the children as the actors and the adults as the directors, with me and my peers dictating what to do.  If we had more time, I would have rejoiced in including more of the children’s ideas to give ownership over learning.  Moreover, the children did not really use the technology as much as I would have hoped.  This was mainly due to me and my peers trying to corroborate all of our videos within the time scale available.  The purpose was to engage children in using technology for their work; however this was not witnessed to a great degree.

Within this experience I have learnt much more about the IPad and the relevant apps for classroom use.  A crucial implication for me is to explore the apps before using them with children.  Not only would this reduce time trying to make the apps work, but work would be created to the fullest potential as the children would have an experienced role model.  Children will then begin to become “active participants in a digital world” (DFE/QCA, 2013:188).  Additionally, I will use the children’s technological knowledge to further learning opportunities.

Bibliography

DFE/QCA (2013) The National Curriculum in England, DFE/QCA

Prenksy, M (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? in On the Horizon 9 (6)

 

 

Apps in the classroom

In this session, we had the opportunity to look at and try out some different apps on the iPads which was very useful and gave me some brilliant ideas for my own teaching practice (providing we have the right resources!). From looking at the range of these apps, the app which I liked most was ‘Book Creator’, however, having said that I really liked the Big Cat phonics books and could see their potential. In my opinion, I feel that the ‘Book Creator’ is the better app to use within the classroom when compared to the phonics books. This is because I feel that the phonics books, although has the potential to be used within the classroom, was more of a resource for the child to be working on independently whereas the ‘book creator’ app could be used in a variety of ways and across the key stages.

The ‘Book Creator’ app includes many features within the programme which could be used in a variety of different ways to engage all the children within the class. For example for reluctant writers/children who struggle when writing are able to record themselves, accessing their own learning and creating their own multimodal texts. Using this app in the classroom links to the idea of children to creating their own multimodal texts corresponding with the new national curriculum (2013). This then relates to the idea that children need to be exposed to variety of different texts, media and stimuli in order to progress with society and teach children how to read a variety of materials, from traditional written texts to web pages to interactive talking books. Dean (2010) furthers this by conveying the importance of children’s literacy skills being developed by a variety of different ‘texts’ in order for them to make progress within society. In addition to this it can be argued that through the use of a variety of different text types, some which are more familiar and relatable to the children (such as apps on iPads, multimodal texts etc.) children’s learning becomes more memorable, engaging more in their own learning and education.

In conclusion, I feel that children need to be exposed to these types of technologies within the classroom in order for them to remain fully functioning, active members of society, which is supported by Palfrey and Gasser (2008) who claim that children in today’s society are ‘digital natives’ and need opportunities to develop their skills in these technologies to progress with society. Additionally, I feel that I will definitely use this app when teaching.

-          Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage

-          Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Basics Books. New York

Reflection over module

When teaching in primary school it is important to motivate and encourage children to learn. One resource that will help you make your teaching relevant for the children and thereby encourage and motivate pupils would be popular culture. When they are at home popular culture has a huge impact on their learning (Arthur, 2005). So why not support that and bring something with meaning to the children into the classroom.

The role of technology also needs a larger place in the teaching, but a lot of schools still don’t have the economy to support that role. The school where I do school practice just bought 10 IPads this year. And if you look at the statement from Steven Higgins report upon the use of technologies:

‘Technology can be as powerful as a short but focused intervention to improve learning,

particularly when there is regular and frequent use.’ (The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation, 2012)

This is difficult to do with ten IPads and 370 pupils. The use of technologies must be well planned by the teachers so this frequently use can be made across the Years and be beneficial for all pupils.

This module supported great programs on computers and apps on IPads which can be used in future teaching in literacy. What is important is that:     

‘technology is best used as a supplement to normal teaching

rather than as a replacement for it.’ (The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation, 2012)

This can for example include making a multi modal book using Power Point or Book Creator and practice literacy.

When you are using technology in the classroom you need to know rules for copyrights and internet safety. This could be an event where you include the parents as they have a responsibility as well especially about the internet safety and the parents are not digital natives like the children (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008) so here is a job to be done.

Using comedy books and graphic novels within the classroom can be a great support of reading skills. When year 2 pupils where asked what their favorite reading was, histories was their first answer and comics the second answer (Marsh & Millard, 2001). That is why they need a role in literacy. It is important to the children to introduce what a graphic novel or comic book is. (Stafford, 2009) They need to know how to read it and in which order.

An example of an evaluation system to use while you are teaching could be a blog. Here you can upload all the products the class is producing and you can also use it as a diary about your learning. Parents can be invited so they can see what the children are working on. 

Bibliography  

Millard and Marsh (2001) 'Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices' Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1, 25 - 38 (pdf)

Stafford, T (2009) ‘Teaching Comics’ in Duncan, D. (2009) Teaching Children’s Literature: Making stories work in the classroom Abingdon:Routledge (pdf)

Arthur, L. (2005) ‘Popular Culture: views of parents and educators’ in Marsh, J. (2005) Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer (pdf on LN)

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New   York: Basic Books (Introduction p. 1 – 15) (pdf on LN) 

2012, Durham University. (The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation) [pdf] Durham: Durham University. Available at  http://learn2.winchester.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/286045/mod_resource/content/1/Higgins%20et%20al%20Impact%20of%20Digital%20Technology%20on%20Learning.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2014].