Using free technology to start a drama in the classroom

I love environmental issues, technology and drama, so mixing them up is something that makes the curriculum come alive for me. This week my class will become The Asian Elephant Rescue Centre (The ARC), based in the rain forest of Borneo. The first dilemma that will start us off is that a baby elephant has fallen into a water pit and is unable to get out. The mother is so distressed that she is charging at anyone who comes close. This will create opportunities for thought tracking, pupil in role, decision alleys and role on the wall.

As always, when  I am planning for mantles such as this, I have an idea about what I want to do, then I search google to see if anything exists that I can use (and pretend to be mine). There usually is! This time I have found video footage of a charging Asian elephant and a bay elephant stuck in a pit in China. Perfect! I can adapt those.


For the baby elephant footage, I have used screencast-o-matic to make it sound like I am recording the elephant myself. It's not perfect, but it will do. 

For the charging elephant I will use a video straight from Youtube, which I have downloaded to my computer using the ss trick as we can't access Youtube in school... 

A bit later in the 'story' I will use a news page, adapted using x-ray goggles, to help make the news our own. I am considering teaching my class to use this, but they may be a bit young. 

Something I will definitely use during this mantle is Doink green screen app. The children can record themselves as if they are in the rainforest,  near to the baby elephant, or the charging elephant. Of course they will be told that this is all in our imaginations. In my experience, my children have been disappointed to learn that things aren't real when we first start using drama in September, but by this point in the year they understand that we are using our imaginations to make our learning exciting. History (The Great Fire of London and Florence Nightingale topics) has been particularly popular.

Planning the smart way?

It has taken me under fifteen minutes to find and prepare the films, then about the same for the hacked news page. I will also practise using Doink at school, where I have some green fabric tucked away. The value in doing these for me is that they help focus my thoughts on where the mantle will go, to start off with. The children will guide the rest of the way. The point is that I have planned for a unit of work quickly, in a practical way, which is how I prefer to work. I have a 2 minute mindmap on paper and I may complete one using popplet (I will add it here if I do), but I won't have a detailed plan. I have the objectives in my copy of my class's curriculum for 2015-16, which I will highlight and date. Minimal paper plans, but lots of planning will take place throughout. Most importantly (in my opinion) is that I am excited about teaching this and I really believe that excitement and passion is picked up on and replicated by the children. We will cover geography, art, DT, ICT, PSHE/citizenship and English in this unit. Can't wait!

Computing in KS1 and 2

I just thought I would share some computing resources that I haven't blogged about before (you can read previous computing posts here and don't forget the shared computing documents that you can access in the sidebar on the right).

The BBC have kindly produced a page that will help you explain the basics of algorithms to infants if you are struggling.

It also covers another important part of the computing curriculum How to use the Web safely, which includes amazing apps, wonderful websites and great games. There is also a section on personal information, which reminds us what we should cover as well as providing an infant friendly way of explaining it. Not bad for a freebie!

This presentation by Emma Goto may help you deliver the computing curriculum in KS1 and 2 without the use of whizzy technology, but by using things usually found in infant/early years settings.

Another great idea for computing without a computing comes from Dr Techniko - How to train your Robot.If you are a member of TES you can download the human crane activity from Phil Bagge (our sandwichbot friend!).

I have already played with the new Scratch app on the ipads and think it's a great buy at 69p. I like the way that you snap the commands together to make your code. It's a great accompaniment to other computing apps. You can find more here if you have an ipad.  I particularly like the problem solving elements of Pettson's inventions and monster physics.


Ruby is a simple programming language with a built in tutorial. You could set your children off to work independently and they will soon learn how to write simple code and how to debug (well I did when I didn't follow the instructions carefully!)

If you look back at past posts, you will see more computing ideas. If you have any to share, please add a comment!

More computing resources

Did I mention the crowd-sourced computing document?! It's still there with some tech and non-tech ideas and resources to help you deliver the new computing curriculum.

Today I have been playing, albeit briefly, with a couple of new computing resources for the ipad. Lightbot is similar to Beebot and Alex as it gets you thinking logically whilst gaining an understanding of basic (and more complex) control. I haven't got very far with it, but it will help children learn to write algorithms with procedures and conditionals. You can also play on your PC by clicking here.

I also had a very quick play with Kinescript. I admit that I didn't get very far as time was limited and this was not as easy to drop in and play as Lightbot, so this is just a pointer so that you can have a play yourself. It is clearly inspired by Scratch with the use of sprites and built-in backgrounds and sounds. You can read more about it here and I will try to review it properly when I have had more time to play.

I realised last night when I looked back at my computing posts that I have shared lots of resources, but have said less about the 'why' of it. In a post from Feb last year I showed why computing/computational thinking is important with the 'What most schools don't teach' film. I am lazy, I do let the experts explain things - they are the experts. My posts are not intended to show deep thinking, but to signpost resources and views of those I consider to have expertise.

One expert - Miles Berry - has very kindly pointed me in the direction of his 1010 reasons for teaching computing and @worrydream's Reopening the debate: Should children program computers. They are both well worth a look!

I have also just come across Rising Stars 'Switched on computing with Microsoft', which you can download for free. It aims to guide teachers with creative ideas that draw on a range of computing/ICT skills. There are 6 units for you to try out in the classroom, with alternatives and assessment guidance to support teaching. I may try the 'We are cooking' unit with my year 2s, though I have very much enjoyed the digital literacy projects I have done before, so may just think about developing those further.

If you have any other resources to share, please let me know!

Espresso computing resources

I have written posts before about computing and as always am trying to reduce the anxiety that it brings to some teachers by sharing resources that are simple to use.  The crowd sourced computing document is a useful resource, though I am aware that it may feel a little overwhelming to some teachers who do not have expertise in ICT.

Espresso have cleverly made their coding resources free until October 2014 - enough time to let you have a good play with them! What I found useful was that they work on an ipad too, which will really complement our ipad computing resources.

Here is what I have learned so far. The initial page is clearly set out in year groups, starting at year 1 (children in EYFS can easily access these resources, but as the computing curriculum starts in ks1, that is where it starts.)  There are handy tutorials for some of the activities and clear instructions on each screen. Lesson plans are provided for those who have paid the subscription though some samples are provided. Likewise there are quick start guides.



Although I haven't played with them all, it seems like there is clear progression through the activities. As with many activities, children may progress past their year group quickly - I would certainly expect children who have been computing regularly using existing resources to find this quite simple. That said, I had to think about the year 6 activities and as someone who jumps right in without reading instructions, I found I didn't know what to do, so had to reverse up a bit. This is what you see if you click on unit 6d

and if you press start, you go straight to the activity. In order to access the tutorial, you press the link where it says Step 1: Walk the dog. Although I believe it is essential that you have listened to the tutorials and had a play yourself, you have the safety net of somebody else talking the children through the activity. You could do that as a whole class thing, or why not give the children headphones and their independence?

This is what Espresso say about their resource:

Espresso Coding has everything you need to deliver the coding part of the curriculum for years 1 to 6 including:

• a comprehensive Scheme of Work linked to Curriculum 2014
• 70+ step-by step lessons and tablet-friendly activities for pupils to create apps
• full lesson plans for each activity by December 2013
• a bespoke website area where apps can be published and shared
• an introduction to coding using elements of JavaScript (an industry standard)
• short, helpful video guides
• additional CPD training is available

Find out more on their pages here or their helpful faqs.

Update: I have just found a useful blog post here by Aled Williams about Espresso computing.

A little holiday food for thought

Today I have been catching up on some tweets/blog posts that I  favourited on twitter. I thought that some of them were worth sharing. 


The first post I re-read this morning was Oliver Quinlan's Knowing Creativity. I took time to reply directly on the post, but had ipad failure once again and it deleted my comment. Next time I will try to remember to copy before I press send... In a very small nutshell (I recommend reading it for yourself), Oliver's post explores the idea of creativity being less of a result of inspiration and more as hard graft. I agree with this as it reflects my practice and who I am as a teacher/learner. My colleagues have described me as a creative teacher, but the approaches and ideas I use in the classroom have all been adapted or inspired from other people's ideas and practices. In short, I am a magpie - unashamedly so. It's not that all my ideas are pinched directly from other people, it's just that I could probably identify the initial inspiration for most of them (even if they do not seem at all related-my thought processes are not a uniform thing!) The more 'unique' ideas that I have had have not always worked so well, but I like to try them out, even if I fail. Taking risks is a big part of my learning. I would like to point out here though that if the idea ends up being a big one, I am always careful to attribute the source of my inspiration. 

Another related piece of reading and  TEDTalk is by Sir Ken Robinson 'Do school's kill creativity?' which I believe all edcuators should watch (2006 but very relevant).

Scratch

The third favourite was from @digitalmaverick about the Scratch Literacy Project between schools in London and Prague. This project involves year 8 children, but could be a great thing to adapt for younger children. 

Nick Chater also shared this youtube tutorial - how to create a duck hunt style game using Scratch. A great share for our digital leaders.

Ipads

This next favourite is a 'Bloom's taxonomy' in apps shared by @ethinking, created by @aangeli. Lots of great apps, even if you don't necessarily agree with their position in the table.

This was also shared by @ethinking and is a chart of key apps and a 'master plan for a 1:1 ipad programme.

And a final favourite that I felt important to share is this:

Pie Corbett ‏@PieCorbett25 Mar

In an interview, children reckon that writing the objective at the top of their work had never helped - personal targets and good marking do

Need I say any more?

Footnote

Some creative ideas that haven't reached fruition. Yet...

1. A set of story books based around the 'Fairytale Advice Bureau' ... seriously! I've written one. It's got chapters and everything!
2. A set of eco-friendly picture story books. Quentin Clancy lives in a beach hut ...
3. Betty Buttercup's recipe book. (A spin-off from the 'Fairytale Advice Bureau)
4. A blog by 'Billy Buttercup' that shares his personal, social and emotional problems, requiring children to help him through with their comments. (Another spin-off) 

There are more ... 

A day in the life of a teacher/ ICT consultant

Today has been a typical outreach day - model lessons and a staff meeting - but I thought it was worth blogging about because the lessons were with my class and the staff meeting was a mini cluster teachmeet.

The first 'lesson' of the day was a model control technology session for a visiting student and NQT. I have asked the question 'What do we control?' at the start of a few similar sessions, but was not expecting the response I got from my children. They seemed to have a clearer idea than much older children as 90% of my class had their hands up straight away. That was a 'wow' moment for me.

During this session I had put out a range of software and hardware for the children to use. I have written about it here so won't repeat myself. I would like to say here though that my recent de-cluttering of one (just one) of my display boards is great for showing off WOW work. I was able to showcase one child's accurate Gruffalo journey (using textease turtle) for immediate impact.

This is maths work - Gruffalo photo coming soon

After play we started to create our puppet pal movies. The children had written stories about Mr BB being scared by a monster in the woods. To be honest, the children had taken me in a totally different direction with this mini mantle/enquiry, but the outcomes were the same. They had created monsters, described them in detail and written detailed stories using a story path plan. They seemed very motivated by the subject matter - both by the monsters and Mr BB! You can see one of the films below and catch the others on our class blog. (Photos of Mr BB were available, but Jasmine preferred to improvise!)

My afternoon was spent writing a letter to the local press about our digital leaders, reading through a couple of Rising Stars great ICT units and preparing for our cluster schools teachmeet.

I wanted to do a teachmeet on digital literacy because raising standards in writing is an aim in the cluster and I was sure that lots of us would have examples of good practice and resources to share. The point of doing a small cluster one was to raise awareness of the power of teachmeets for cpd. Teachers shared the following gems:

Digital literacy project and prezi as a presentation tool
Inanimate Alice

Games for writing

Teacher in role

Night zookeeper

Drama for writing - dinosaurs

Puppet pals animations

Slow writing

Using film for story writing

Stories to teach e-safety -  EYFS / KS1

Morfo

Crazytalk

SEN word books

Three great online tools - Teach your monster to read, literacy shed, livewriting

Show me / explain everything apps

Hot-seating and use of easi-speak resources

The great thing was that everyone came away having learned something new - as well as having the chance to share and celebrate their practice. One of the comments afterwards, from a teacher who was unsure about the teachmeet encapsulated the feelings of many. She said how it was very relaxed, not at all as she had imagined and that she could find ways of using the ideas from other key stages that were talked about. Perfect! 

Darn the tech ... a wee warning for my GTP students

Last time a group of GTP students came for some training the school network failed. I wrote about it here. It was a good lesson in about tech failures. I now have another lesson!

Picture from http://chennai.olx.in 

Last week my new (8 week old) laptop died. This is the third time a laptop has died on me (not counting the one I dropped a book on and smashed the screen). The mini lecture I received this morning from an ICT chap was not helpful. He must have repeated reasons why I should back up regularly about 5 times in the space of 5 minutes. This put my back up. I bit my tongue, switched off and politely said thank you when he had got to the end of his reprimand. I could have told him that most of my important stuff is stored online now, but to be honest I couldn't be arsed to have a conversation.

I feel mildly frustrated that some IWB resources that I had prepared for the students has been lost, but it's not the end of the world. My digital leaders want to be involved in helping the students with smart and promethean boards. Fortunately I had created a document in drive with ICT resources, which would also show the benefits of collaboration through gdocs, and of course this hasn't been lost. These are good teaching points.

I like writing my plans, it suits my thought processes . I'm not sure why it is different to writing on the computer, but it is. I have tried using popplet to create plans similar to my written ones, but can't sustain them and they are harder to annotate. If my plans are for me, then I have decided that it doesn't matter that they are written anyway. So now the only computer based ones are my maths plans and weekly overviews. My mantle planning could not be followed by anyone else (though people are always welcome to look at it), so there is no point storing it on our school network. I can be quite minimalist with my plans and think that planning to far ahead is counter-productive, especially for maths. I often end up adding resources and ideas retrospectively, but I rarely return to them so am unsure why I do this.

ICT has undergone a significant change in schools. It is no longer seen as a discrete lesson, but more as a tool to support learning. We make choices every day about the best tools for the job and how we should not just be using tech for the sake of it, so surely this is the same for our planning?

Taking the bull by the horns: The proposed computing curriculum

Quick link to the computing doc for those who don't want to read this post!

We were very fortunate at Roydon Primary to have a forward-thinking head who embraced ICT innovations. Although some may have described him as a bit of a maverick, he took risks that paid off and encouraged us to do the same. Because of this we managed to keep abreast of ICT developments and indeed were innovative in things such as our use of class blogging in 2007. His commitment to developments meant regular in-house training and lots of trips to Bett and other conferences to see how we could apply new ideas to our curriculum.
Although our new headteacher confesses to be a technophobe, she has embraced our passion for technology by saying yes to my iPad request and fully supporting outreach and digital leader work. For that I am most grateful.

This post is not just a thank you to our school leaders, it is setting a context for the environment I work in. Our teachers embrace change. They take the bull by the horns because they feel supported and are not patronised.

That said, when I first looked at the computing document I was concerned that even the teachers at Roydon may be a little 'freaked out' by the language. ICT is very well embedded in our school (and I truly believe that if we had devoted time to it we would have gained the ICT mark a long while ago), but I know that words like 'algorithm' would cause concern, so I decided to put together a document to show what we are already doing in school to cover it.

When I started adding ideas I thought how they could be helpful to others. I then considered how a lot of people in my twitter PLN could contribute and if I made this an open document that could potentially help many teachers. So that's what I did: added it to the digital leader network blog, tweeted it out, asked specific people with expertise ( e,g. @MBerry and @eslweb) to contribute ideas and Bob's your uncle - a document with crowd sourced ideas to help you deliver the new computing curriculum started growing. As always I am inspired by my PLN and their commitment to helping others.

 This new curriculum really isn't scary! It's a positive thing for ICT. We can keep using technology as we always have done - as another learning tool - whilst making sure that the area that many teachers avoid (in my experience from outreach work) is covered. Clever! Although the creative element of ICT isn't specified at KS1/2, it may be because it is taken for granted that it happens throughout the curriculum. Now what I aim to do is to get schools to employ digital leaders to support computing in schools. Why is it important? Maybe this video will explain.

If you find the computing document useful, please let me know. If you have an idea that is not already there-please add it! Huge thanks to everyone who has contributed already! 

Related reading

 Please do check out Ant's fantastic blog post 'Coding, computer science and ipads' not only because he shares most of my opinions, but because he writes them so much more eloquently (and in more detail too!) Don't be put off if you don't have ipads -the post is much more than that and shows some great PC resources too.

Pete Yeomens (@ethinking) and Mile Berry (@mberry) have both written posts about the 'National Curriculum Consultation' and 'The New Computing Curriculum'. Pete as always has muddied my thinking (in a good way) and has made me take more time over the wording in my response to the computing curriculum.

You can read about some of my favourite free ICT resources in previous posts.

Apologies for my poor grammar.

Network failure ... DON'T PANIC!

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a twilight training session for SNITT students and was really looking forward to working with them. Although we have ipads at Roydon I was very aware that the students needed time to look at resources that many Norfolk schools have, like IWBs, textease, Espresso, visualisers,  beebots and free resources like photostory3 and movie-maker. I also thought it important to have a practical session, but point them in the direction of theory/paperwork. I wanted them to have a positive experience with ICT

Unfortunately, like one of my OfSTED observed lessons a few years ago, the network had a meltdown. Fortunately I didn't. I think that my defence mechanism of not feeling responsible for  out-of-my-control technical failures is one of my strengths. Still, it was a bit embarrassing and a bit disappointing - especially as I was wanting to give them a positive experience. 

Luckily, there is always a plan B. The beebots and probots just came out earlier than expected, easi-speak chatterboxes and microphones were modelled and played with and I recounted my digital literacy project. The ipads were used as an example of where schools can go next with their tech (and showed perfectly how versatile and practical these 'shiny things' are). I was very grateful that I had them and they filled a gap whilst the laptops were slowly logging on. 

So what have I learned from this? Well I will definitely check the network during the afternoon next time. I will also ask my digital leaders to be on hand, to accompany the students to other rooms to support them individually to use the IWBs and visualisers in case my room crashes again. 

I was very grateful for the loveliness of the students - and that their mentor Jayne said 'Beebots' when I was having a 'blank moment' of disbelief about the network fail! Maybe this experience has shown the reality of ICT in school? It will definitely be better next time!

RiskIT for a biscuit?!

At the end of October we participated in Naace's two week RiskIT campaign at school, which encourages staff to try something new in ICT. The Key RiskIT Elements are:

• Working in judgment-free environment
• Trying new things
• Experimenting
• Taking the fear out of technology
• Making teachers young again
• Mind over matter
• Taking control of the technology
• Learning new things
• Learning from students
• Not afraid of failure, but learn from it

So how did we RiskIT? By doing lots of things that may not have been new to all teachers, but were a big leap for some. I put up a timetable in the staffroom to encourage teachers to sign up and 'RiskIt for a biscuit!' 

So here are some of the things that teachers did at Roydon Primary:

• Use crazytalk to start an enquiry/drama lessonss
• Give the digital leaders the opportunity to create their own blog
• Year 2/1s used crazytalk on the ipad to create a news report about the great fire of London
• Other year 2/1s used book creator to create fact sheets about the great fire
• Create symmetrical pictures using textease paint
• A skype session with a viking
• Using Mr Thorne does phonics apps in class on the ipads with reception aged children

 I think they earned a biscuit or two! 

The problem of fixed/borrowed ICT schemes

This post was inspired by a brief twitter conversation with @alexgingell about ICT schemes of work. We've probably all looked around for inspiration and ideas from others, but if you want a scheme that works, you really have to write your own. Why? You can't make someone else's mould fit right. How do I know? I've tried. It is an impossible task. I was inspired by the comprehensive schemes from Wokingham a few years ago and tried to adapt them for our school. I sat with colleagues in each year group and we looked at what they teach, which resources could be used and how skills can be embedded. It took over an hour with each year group until we finally came up with something we were all happy with. I felt happy that staff had ownership of their plans.


The trouble is, things change. New technology appears, skills change (children and staff) and teachers move jobs. Then you end up with schemes that you spent too much time on, that don't fit. Who likes to follow someone else's plans anyway?

So our present solution is a very simple one. Each teacher needs to be mindful of the skills that should be taught to the children in their year group. They should then seek opportunities to embed them in other curriculum areas*. We have a very basic overview that shows what is taught in each year group and resources that are available. How teachers embed skills is up to them. Energy is spent on finding new opportunities to use ICT and supporting teachers rather than creating detailed overviews. I admit that at the moment more formal monitoring methods are needed, but we are a relatively small school and we talk to one another. I know what is being taught around the school. In the near future we will have a staff meeting using the Naace framework to monitor our progression in ICT more carefully. At the moment though we are concentrating on maintaining our good standards, whilst learning how to get the best from our ipads.

What @alexgingell pointed out was that maybe the children should be involved too. Of course they should! Digital leaders immediately came into my mind, but maybe it is a job for the school council? Maybe google docs should be used so that more people can adapt them? Whatever happens, I am always grateful for the food for thought that fellow tweeters provide. Two heads are always better than one!

If you are starting from scratch, I would recommend looking at the Naace framework, Simon Haughton's blog and Chris Leach's rethinking ICT wiki. These guys work tirelessly to inspire others.


*It often happens the other way round - the skills are taught as and when they are being applied to a curriculum area. Then more opportunities are sought to rehearse the skills.

Sack Mabel and Doris?

This post has been a long time coming - I didn't want to rush it (like I normally do), but needed to give it some thought as it is an issue that I want to address. I know that I risk getting publicly shot down for my views, but they are mine and I would hope that they are respected. I am coming from a primary viewpoint here, so would appreciate the reader remembering that we are not employed to teach one or two subjects, but are (mostly) responsible for delivering all.

Rethinking ICT

I had an interesting time at the rethinking ICT conference earlier this year and met some hard working people who I have a lot of respect for. With the exception of a few that I had met before, they were nearly all twitter acquaintances, many of whom are doing inspirational work in education (and special mention must be given to Chris Leach who put this event together). At the end of the conference an expert panel answered questions from the audience. During this time I was stunned to hear the opinion that teachers should be sacked if they did not engage with new technologies*

My initial reaction was that it would be very uncharitable of educational establishments to sack teachers for finding an aspect of their learning difficult. Would we exclude a child who struggles or refuses to learn, or would we try our hardest to find a way of engaging them? Teachers get paid to do a job, I understand that, but technology does not come naturally to everyone and teachers have to keep abreast of  a multitude of new/recycled educational ideas each year. There is a lot to juggle. I thought about some of the people I have supported over the past few years, people who I have heard (and seen on twitter) being referred to as the school's 'Doris' or 'Mabel' (a derogatory term given to those who shy away from new technologies) and the opinions at rethinking ICT hit a nerve. A big nerve. So big that I felt compelled to challenge it by stating my disagreement of the expert panel's view. I was told that we wouldn't accept it if a teacher continuously failed to learn how to teach fractions*. My response to this was that fractions don't continuously break.

If I were told that I had to embed the Polish language in each curriculum area, I know that I would find it time consuming to learn and stressful because I would not always know if I were teaching it well. Imagine how I would feel the next year being told that the language had changed, to Bengali. One of my colleagues has no trouble with technology, but if he were told to include art in as many lessons as possible, he would probably not appreciate it! Likewise, I can read music and have always aspired to play the piano, but have not been able to devote the time to it. I played (one-handed) in assembly once and it was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. I know that these examples are not the same as embedding technology, but I am trying to make comparisons of the 'fear factor'. This is a fear of the new, the unknown and the things that could lead to public ridicule. Children as well as adults can be intentionally and unintentionally cruel with their frank opinions. Some teachers lack the confidence to put themselves in that position.

I myself never wanted to be an ICT coordinator; I find many aspects of technology quite dull. I have developed a passion for it because I am a curious person; I see the creative potential and the awe and wonder technology often brings and I want  slice of the action. Maybe it is slightly easier for me than some over 40s though, because I did computer technology at school (yes, it did exist in the 80s!) and I am not afraid of breaking things. I also had two children at a very young age and they had all manner of gaming platforms, remote control toys and then computers when they were older. My youngest son collected eggs at the weekend so that he could buy himself a laptop. I am not an advocate of the term 'digital native', but our children now have many more opportunities to engage with technologies than I did when I was young and the fear factor of 'breaking it' only arises when they are told by an adult things such as 'don't touch, you might break it'. Is this why they seem to learn more quickly? They are not afraid to try something new.

Yesterday I sat and watched Ruby, who is only just two, use an ipad. She had no fear and no anxieties and was happily expressing herself through mark-making. She was delightful! Conversely, trying to teach my 68 year old dad how to email and access the internet was incredibly stressful. He would not experiment, because he did not understand and his frustration quickly led to acute grumpiness. His fear was preventing his learning; he needed a lot of practise and repetition. So why do we expect our teachers to pick things up quickly and use resources straight away? I would challenge anyone who believes that teachers should be able to do just that, to attempt the same by learning a new musical instrument.

So what can be done about it? I would suggest that the negative opinion of sacking them be replaced with a more positive offer of support. Two methods immediately spring to mind: digital leaders and RiskIT.

Digital leaders.

Digital leaders are the best free resource at school to keep abreast of ICT. For example, when I introduced scratch and kodu at school, I knew that our hard working year 6/5 teachers would want their children to use it. I am ever aware of the hours that they put in and do not wish to add to their workload. Digital leaders are the perfect compromise. The teacher gets to join in the lesson, learn with the children and develop their confidence. Why not make a pledge to employ digital leaders and join our supportive network.

RiskIT

If you want your teachers to use new technologies, adopt a whole school approach such as  RiskIT. This strategy encourages and empowers teachers to explore ICT in a safe environment without making them feel pressured or ridiculed. I will definitely be promoting this next year in our cluster schools. I will not explain it any further here, but please read Jan's post by following the RiskIT link.

Other methods of support that are commonly used in school could also prove useful: 1:1 support, small group work, peer tutoring, modelling, lesson observations.

And finally - we need to stop negatively labelling our teachers! Self-fulfilling prophecy? Does our low expectation = low output? It's a hard enough job without people in the same profession being negative and knocking you down. Instead of questioning their 'inadequacies', maybe we should be asking ourselves if we have been teaching 'Doris' and 'Mabel' properly and giving them appropriate support. I don't just mean chucking a manual at them (could you learn to play the saxaphone that way?) I mean proper, personalised support. I feel that it is my duty as ICT coordinator to find out what our teachers know, what they need to learn and how best they can be supported to do so. Spending a little time reassuring them and ensuring that appropriate support systems are in place is essential. At our school it works well, because it is a supportive team. If someone struggles, we pull together to help them.


* that was the gist of it, I cannot remember exactly what was said. 

Don't throw the laptops out with the bathwater

I am an ipad fan. I never thought I would be. I caved in to peer pressure (I never thought I'd do that either) when I sat between a fellow AST (@JenniH68) and an ICT adviser (@NorfolkTeachers). They got out their slick ipads, I got out my notepad*. I had complete envy when they started comparing apps, so when I left the meeting I went straight down to the apple store and purchased an ipad 2. I have not regretted it for a moment.

As soon as I had bought it and downloaded a few apps, I could see the huge potential for optimising learning in the classroom. I knew that the school had some money in the ICT budget, so I put in a proposal to our headteacher. He always liked being at the cutting edge of technology, purchasing IWB ahead of the game, innovating with the website and VLE and as a school I believe we were blogging before anyone else in Norfolk. Unfortunately at this point, he had announced his retirement and said it needed to be the new headteacher's decision. I tapped my foot patiently for over a term, frustrated about not being able to be the first school in Norfolk to adopt them.

We finally purchased 45 ipads in the autumn term of 2011 and haven't looked back. The way that they have been used will be written about elsewhere, but you can see how my 2/1 class have used them here and you can find out about the apps we have here.

Don't chuck the laptops!

Much as I love the ipads, I am a firm believer that they do not (and will not) replace laptops. Here's why:

• Our local high school uses laptops / desktops. Our children need the skills to be able to use them.
• Visualisers, cameras, dataloggers, digiblues, tuffcams and some control resources are all used with the laptops. Yes there are animating/control apps on the ipads, but we want the children to learn how to use a range of hardwear. 
• We use a lot of the free resources from the BBC that are flash-based. These will not run on the ipads.
• Blogging can be easy on the ipads with the blogger app, but you are limited with what you can do on them. It is difficult to upload photos onto some blogs, through the internet, on ipads.
• We currently write reports using a word based template (though this will hopefully change to an online report writing system
• We have a range of software on the laptops that the children love to use, including these notable ones:

• Kodu
• Scratch
• Clicker 5
• Photostory3
• Windows movie maker
• Espresso
• Activprimary
• Primarygames maths resources (we have 11 different packs).
• A wide range of Sherston software that supports embedding ICT (Have you seen Flobot? Charlie chimp? Bucket and spade? My year 2/1s love them!)
• Textease (which helps cover a vast amount of our ICT curriculum)
• A range of 2simple resources

Also, we have a security system on the laptops to prevent children looking at / doing anything inappropriate. This is not on the ipads. We have not yet mastered saving work to the network either. So as you can see, we definitely won't be ignoring our laptops - they still get used as much (if not more) than our 'beloved' ipads!

*My ipad has not (and will not) replace my beloved Gruffalo notepad either ;-)

*Update on 14.2.2013*
For a more up-to-date post covering this and other matters, take a look at (my good ICT geeky friend) Ant's blog post. His blog will not fail to inspire you when you read some of the marvellous things he has done!