Engaging pupils using videos

Well hello to you. This blog post comes at the end of a long week in which I have had two days off for food poisoning. It wasn't fun, but missing two days of school means the week has just whizzed past. Although Saturday morning school is still Saturday morning school! In the days I have been at school I have been all about the video. The Youtube channel I set up has been a big topic of conversation in my lessons. Mostly I have recieved mockery for having no subscribers, I am now up to 5! I have also been mocked for not having many views. But as we are I have recieved 169 views. I don't think that is bad at all!

There are huge educational benefits to using video in the classroom and I have found the engagement of my pupils has been noticeable. I would say again and again that I only want to bring technology to my classroom when it can enhance what we are doing. Here are a few of the uses I have found. I'll follow it up with a bit about what I have learnt in the process.

Lesson Aim Videos

So many times I stand at the front saying what we will be studying in the lesson, so much more fun to create a video that does it. I have used Tellagami. So simple. You just pick what you want to look like and you can either record the message, or write it down and choose the voice it should be delivered in. The avatar even uses hand gestures at the exact point I would. Uncanny.

Plenary videos

I am trialling this with my year 6 classes. At the end of the lesson I get one of them to record a video explaining what we have studied in the lesson. These are then stored in a folder, so that when they are revising they can look back over them and watch a reminder of the year's work.

• Screen Cast videos

My pupils study Common Entrance and the questions they answer are a bit bizarre. I have used Screencast-O-Maticto record myself explaining how to answer these questions so when they are at home completing homework they can re-watch it if they get stuck. I plan to do this for each of the different types of question they encounter.

• Expressing Opinions/Brainstorming Questions

This is probably my favourite use. When we have been discussing a topic I have got the children to record themselves expressing their opinions. Yesterday this was whether they would want to be a Reform or an Orthodox Jew. They then upload the videos to our shared area on the school system and we can watch them on the computer. This has also been useful for brainstorming how to answer different questions. They have 5 minutes to record a point and we watch them and discuss which ones are the best and which ones we would want to include in our own answers. Clearly all this could be done on pen and paper but if they love it, I always want to fit my teaching around what works for them.

Having said all this positivity about using the videos, we have come across some issues; they seem to be very concerned with looking good on the videos, and despite being about to offer an idea in class when discussing questions for some reason when they come to make the point on the video they say there is nothing to say. The first time it has been time consuming as we have needed to go through how to upload. I did try using Google Drive for uploads, but this took forever.

So I would love to hear from you, have you been using technology? Do you have any great uses for the classroom?

TedED and why I love them

This blogpost marks the end of my second week as a fully fledged blogger. I know I still have a lot to learn. But I am excited by what has happened and the pageviews my blog has generated. Thank you so much for checking in with me.

As it it Friday I thought a short post is in order. So have you checked out TedED? I cannot put into words how amazing this resource is and how cool the videos are. Really well executed and clear, perfectly pitched for school children. While there are not a lot of Religion ones, I have found this one all about big questions one might ask and I have used it twice this week when beginning essay planning conversations with the scholars groups.

There are others in this series and they can be used to provoke some really helpful debate in philosophical lessons. I began the lesson by watching the clip then discussing with them some of the unanswered questions they had. After doing this we talked about the fact that the essays they have to answer in exams are essentially just like this; unanswered questions for them to explore and discuss. I may even allow them the chance to try and make a cool animated video to explore one issue we have been covered in class. So, so much more fun than just endlessly planning essays!

Here is a link to the other Philosophy and Religion ones.

Have you found any amazinf videos for using in RS lessons? I'd love to hear about them.

TextHelp: This is amazing

Every so often I come across software and I cannot quite comprehend the different it will make to my teaching. I came across something recently and I could not wait to share it with the SenCo at school so we could start using it. The name: TextHelp. Quite simply, revolutionary software for dyslexic pupils in order to help them access reading and writing. This is a subject which it is hugely important to be discussing this week, as it is dyslexia awareness week. All week I have seen tweets about why dyslexia matters. It really matters to me. I care passionately that everyone in my classroom should be able to access what we are learning about because I want everyone to feel equally welcomed in classroom and to have confidence in what they can achieve.

You can either download this as a Chrome extension or there is an app called ireadwrite.

This is what the toolbar looks like.

It has many different uses:

• Picture dictionary

If there is a word you do not understand you can highlight it and look at a picture to help you understand the meaning.

• Predictive words

It suggests the word you might want to write next which will significantly help you speed up your writing ability.

• Change the colour and highlight

Highlight words you have struggled with or need help with. You can then collect these in a separate document.

• Translation

Highlight a word and you can have it translated into a number of different languages which are read out for you. How great would this be for EFL students. We get a lot of spanish children coming to my school and I know how useful this would be for them.

• Text input

You can even speak to your computer and it will record and write in what you have said to it. Fantastic for those children who struggle to write but have lots of ideas they want to share in the lessons.

There is even a possibility of reading webpages aloud and you can take a pdf picture of a textbook and upload it too! I really cannot get over how useful I think this would be.

I'm not sure how quickly we can use this extension as we are not currently using chrome. But I'm hoping we can make good use of the app on our iPads. Here is a video explaining how it can be used:

It is so important for educators to be using currently technology to help provide access for SEND pupils, I think this will be fantastic.

Is your school currently using this app, or the extension? How is it going?

QR Codes

It has been really fun coming back from half-term as I feel really pumped about the next six weeks and every new innovative activity I can try in the classroom. Over the holidays we had new apps deployed to all our iPads and I am very excited about trying them out. One of the ones I asked for was QR codes. Today while planning my lessons I have been using it.

I love the idea that you could allow the children to have a go at work first, before they look for assistance or have a look at a practice question which I have written for them. I have made one worksheet where I have asked them to brainstorm ideas about how it might feel to be a Reform or Orthodox Jew and then when they have written as many words as possible they can look at a picture to give them some more ideas. Obviously I could have put the picture on the worksheet to begin with, but I hope this way they will have a chance to give it a go themselves. The QR code either gives help, or allows them to check their work is good. A similiar use I have found is in a sheet written for planning points for difficult questions. When they have finished or are stuck they can look at the perfect answer I have written.

When they scan the code they will be taken here

What I really like about using QR codes is the layers they can add to worksheets and they way they allow for more independence from the learners. But they also provide some scaffalding for those who are struggling to check their work and see if they are including the right kinds of ideas.

I'm going to bring it out in a lesson tomorrow so I will let you know how it goes!

Easy Technology uses for Prep School children

I teach in a prep school, which is kind of like a primary school but we go up to year 8. That means that not everything I read about will work with the children I teach, so I pick and choose what I like to try out in lessons. There are obviously easy activities to do with the older children in years 7 and 8 but I find it a bit more difficult to pitch the right way to blend technology in with my years 5 and 6. Sometimes it takes them forever to type in a web address and even when I shorten them I find they often get it wrong and we waste half the lesson uploading a Padlet wall! Here are a few activities which I have found really work.

• Internet Search Races

I am super fortunate to have an Apple Tv and when we use the iPads I often ask my classes a question and then we have a race to find the answer with the winner being able to airplay what they have found on the board. This is very competitive and exciting and we often have some tense moments as they get close to the right bit of information. It's important to make clear that they need to know the answer, rather than just know they have the website with it on. I will get them to explain the answer they have found.

• Tellagami

This is something which I have only just introduced into my teaching. Currently it is not an app we have on all our devices so I can't use it extensively. But I used this as a real carrot today when we were looking at the difference between Reform and Orthodox Jews. The person who finished first and had written a very clear explanation would be able to record an avatar they designed explaining what we had learnt in the lesson. At the end we airplayed the video and watched it together. Doing this in the lessons and keeping the videos could be an excellent way to put together a learning folder which could be used when they come to revise for their end of year exams. It will be a digital reminder of what we have covered in the lessons.

The best thing about this app is how excited they were by it. They were all asking me the name and planning to go home and download it on their own devices.

• Youtube quizzes

The get very excited by videos and it is a great way to control the room as I know they will always pay attention. After we have watched one I can give them a quiz about what they learnt. Or get them to write down everything they can remember. A great clip we used recently when looking at the Torah was this one:

It was perfectly pitched for 10 year olds and they loved how fun it was.

My favourite collaborative tools.

Collaboration is such a big word in education right now. I once went to a seminar which began with, and I kid you not 20 different videos or pictures of famous people in films talking about the importance of collaboration. Suffice to say, it was not a good seminar!

Despite this, collaboration in the classroom is something I really believe in. I think it is fundamentally important for pupils to be able to brainstorm ideas and share them together so they have a real chance to learn from one another. Here is a list of a few of the ways I do this in the classroom.

• Padlet and Linoit

Both of these online tools allow a class of children to share their ideas on a certain subject. You can get them to answer a question together, or share what they have learnt from the lesson as part of the plenary. If we are brainstorming we focus on what has been written and then whittle down to which we think are the best suggestions. I would then share the webpage with them so when they are completing homework later on they can refer back to what was suggested and utilise the best ideas.

• Google Docs

This can be used in a number of different ways. I can create a document which they share their ideas into, or they can complete a piece of work with another person without the hassle of sending versions back and forth. They can make slideshows, word documents or spreadsheets. Last night I found this super helpful video explaining how to use collaboration on Google drive.

• Videos

This is a new one for me but next week I am going to try creating videos with my year 7s and 8s as a revision tool. We spend a lot of time brainstorming different Common Entrance questions and talking about how they could be answered. I am planning to get them to record a point for a question and upload it to a folder. When they are all uploaded we will edit them in iMovie and each child will cut together the best points so we will get an idea of what might be written in the answer. I am so hoping it will work, I will report back and let you know!

I’d love to hear any other useful collaboration tools you use in your classroom. Thanks for reading.

Investigating Avatars

At some point at the beginning of this term I had a twitter discussion with someone about Tellagami. I had seen it on a list for the best apps for educators and had mindlessly downloaded it onto my iPad, but was struggling to understand the usefulness of it as a concept.

Today as I was running late for church I thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a go. It started badly as think there are some glitches with the app. It kept crashing for a start but I managed to download the EDU version which worked better. I think it would be a fun way to discuss learning from a lesson, or to give to children as an extension activity as they would be able to create a video explaining some concept to the rest of the class. So far I have only made one video and I will be using this with my year 6s tomorrow in order to explain the lesson aims. My aim in my teaching at the moment is that I want to try to not continually be using pen and paper as I think there are more exciting and innovative ways to record and share learning accomplished in the classroom.

If you are interested the video I made is below.

Is tellagami something you have been using? Have you got any great suggestions for what I should be doing? I would love to hear them.