Using technology for group work: Making a How to... video

The shooting session on the field could have been better organized. Putting such a eight Y3girls together (especially some strong headed ones) and expecting them to cooperate in shooting a video was too much for them to handle. I tried to salvage by stepping in to be director, but the whole vibe was pretty rotten towards the end.

- If two groups work together, make sure there is someone in charge to direct.

- Confine them to a limited area, not run all over the field.

- Make it clear to them what they want to capture.

- Impose consequences that a group was simply messing around, and praise groups who managed to shoot useful footage.

For video editing:

- Should have made sure all the ICT was setup beforehand, instead of wasting half of the lesson connecting to the server.

- Using the iPhone as a recorder was a great idea for groups which didn't have a computer.

- The biggest problem was how to record their voiceover over the noise. Taking the laptop outside was one solution.

On the whole though, the project will be successful once it's finished. Too bad it just takes so much time with Y4s.

Civilization project / End of teaching Prac

Despite the huge amount of preparation - formatting 17 handouts (4 civilizations, 4-5 topics per group) really paid off. Students were focused throughout all 3 sessions, and I think they were really proud of their finished work. The poster design also allowed gave early finishers something to work at.

Having a quick recap/short presentation was a great idea - 1 fact per student. Also, giving them 3 minutes to prepare what they would say was very helpful. However, I forgot to give awards out for their poster... I should have taken notes on which group worked cooperatively etc.

Praising groups who were doing the right thing really seemed to work well in motivating other groups.

An experiment with making tea

Technology works best if it is intuitive and unintrusive.

Today's lesson on making tea was an excellent example. A simple flash site on how to make tea integrated extremely well with the activity. I printed out the cards for each group, and they had to put it in order and fill it in by hand. Then having it on the interactive whiteboard and letting students drag them in the right order was simple, clear and a great point for discussion. The entire class was focused.

My biggest mistake was running out of time and trying to make another cup of tea for the class teacher whilst letting another student put the answers in the right order. I even forgot to say well done to the student for getting it right, so absorbed was I in making the tea.

If time had allowed, I should have let students do a hands on experiment to figure out the right order. Discovery learning is great too.

Art instructions / A system for tidying up

Today's mega art / instructions session wasn't too bad. The pack of activity cards "50 things to draw and paint" was a great resource.

Everyone had something to do, and the finished collage of their drawings looked great.

At the start

Need to focus more on giving clear instructions for an activity

- Set clear goals (e.g. We are going to put together a collage for display)

- Give clear instructions, write them out on the board, especially for EAL students.

Cleaning up

One sink, 22 students.

After an art activity, a good clean up system is needed when there are paint brushes, ink, paper and glue everywhere.

-What could be a more efficient way of tidying up?

-What about students who have already tidied up? How to keep them occupied?

Wrapping up

I forgot to ask 2 crucial questions, probably for any activity

- What had they learned from the activity

- How they could improve it if they did it again