Picking a name out of a hat is boring

Here is something I love - I used to pick out of a jar, or let children answer when they have their hands up. But then, I found this: fruit machine. I think it is very important as a teacher to have good questioning and answering sessions. People who are shy are unlikely to put up their hands and often it is the loudest people who get the chance to share. Previously I have used jam jars with all the names of the class in them, but this is quicker and more effective and I never seem to get round to making my jam jars. This is easy to use and I love the noises it makes when it selects the child. I now need to work out how you can have all the names of different groups saved so you don't need to imput them everytime. 

I'm planning to try it out in a lesson tomorrow with a year 7 class. I have a new teacher coming to observe my lesson and we will be using all manner of different internet based tools; I can't imagine what he'll think. But maybe he'll catch on and I will find a partner in crime. 

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.

Getting into technology: Some tips

I currently work at a school where there has not been a huge push for integrated technology. There are a few teachers who are keen but it is certainly not the majority. Sometimes when I talk to people I mention things and I can literally see their eyes glazing over with boredom. At brunch with a friend today, we were chatting over some uses of tech for her. She says she feels very scared of getting started so we began chatting about some easy steps. This is obviously not an exhaustive list; I was careful here to suggest tools which can be used in classes where you do not have access to iPads of laptops.

• Name generator

I love this for picking which children should answer the next question. Everyone gets picked and they seem to love the graphics of the typewriter and fruit machine. After each name has been selected on the fruit machine you can delete that person to ensure there is no repetition.

• Plickers

where your pupils hold up some paper indicating their answer to a question and you can scan the room to quickly see who has got the answer correct.

• • Twitter

  This may seem like an obvious one, but I love the fun you can have when you get into the mind of a character and come up with some ideas of how they would have felt. I do this for biblical characters.