Simon Haughton's Blog

Teaching Digital Photography to Year 3

I've blogged before about the benefits of teaching digital photography skills to children and thought I'd follow it by sharing a pair of lessons that I've just done with Year 3 to teach them how to properly: shoot, edit and use digital photographs.

In the first lesson, I began by having a discussion with the children about their experiences of using digital cameras - Why might you want to take photographs? What cameras have you used? What have you taken photos of? How have you tried to make sure they were good photos? What have you done with the photos afterwards?

As the children have already been taught how to take simple shots lower down the school (see this lesson), I felt that just a brief recap on the basic steps to follow was needed before I could then teach them how to do some more advanced techniques, such as: when/how to use the flash, how to zoom in/out, how to use the macro function to focus on near-to subjects and how to properly align shots so that they catch the viewer's interest (e.g. using a grid).

Next, the children then went off into groups around the school to have a go at putting these skills in practice, taking photographs of different things that caught their attention. Each group had their own camera to pass around (I borrowed them from other classes) and the adult working with each prompted/reminded them to have a go at trying out the various advanced tools/features they'd just been shown. Why have you used the zoom/macro tool? Why did you choose that focal point? Why did you need to re-take that photo? Why do you want that photo? Are you pleased with that photo?

After about 15 minutes, everyone returned back to the classroom and turned on their laptops. Whilst they were doing this, I quickly transferred all the photos they had taken onto the school network. Since each camera was helpfully labelled, I created a folder for each camera into which I could import the photos from it.

I then showed the children how to manipulate their photos using the Pixlr O-Matic website. There are many other similar sites out there but at the moment this is my personal favourite for using on a PC because it offers just a nice amount of effects to apply and has a wizard that is extremely easy for children follow - load a photo, add a colourisation, add a light effect, add a border and then save. For the remainder of the lesson, the children just had a go at applying different effects and borders to their pictures to create a collection of edited photos on the network. (For information, Pixlr O-Matic is also available as a free app for iOS devices.)

In the second lesson, I asked the children to create a document instructing somebody how to shoot good photographs with a digital camera. They'd already had lots of experience using PowerPoint to do this sort of work so the aim of the lesson was to consolidate these skills whilst also recapping on the understanding of how to use a digital camera.

To say that the children worked well would actually be an understatement. I gave them a clear set of four steps to follow to achieve success and with the incentive of the 'Independent on the Computer Tokens' that I've been using recently they all worked very independently to complete the task - even the less confident children hardly needed any support! The only help that I actually needed to give was to a couple of children who were having technical problems with their laptops that I soon solved.

Here is the prompt sheet that I made for the children to help them with their writing/spelling:

I would honestly say that these two lessons were literally fantastic - not only did I enjoy delivering them but the children also enjoyed doing them to! They were all motivated by the topic, keen to develop their understanding of how to properly use a digital camera and liked being given the opportunity to practice their PowerPoint skills with a bit more independence. When you see children excited by doing ICT lessons like these it reminds you what a lovely job you have!

Co-Operative Learning Blog

As you might be aware, we're having great success at the moment at my school in implementing Kagan Structures for Co-Operative Learning - see this blog post I wrote last half-term about a truly wonderful lesson I had using the Quiz-Quiz-Trade structure, for example.

My colleagues are being encouraged to save any resources they make onto our school shared 'staff' area on the network - these are then being passed onto other local schools by my deputy head during meet-ups. One school is then collating all the files together and uploading them onto the local authority's internal 'intranet' for everyone to access - all grouped into different folders for each of the different structures.

Whilst the initiative is clearly there and it's great to see my local cluster of schools collaborating together, the system does have a few problems, such as the fact that it is only available in school and the resources are being grouped into folders by structure name - this means that you have to manually look in each folder for resources for your year group which is very time consuming.

By pure chance, I happened to come across a file on the intranet containing some minutes of the last cluster meeting which mentioned that setting up a blog would perhaps be a better way to share things for people to access more easily - yay! Being the sort of person who enjoys setting themselves jobs to do based on even the smallest of requests, I've therefore had a go this half-term at setting up a quick Posterous blog - http://kagan.parkfieldict.co.uk/ - for people to contribute their ideas/resources for using co-operative learning structures in the classroom to.

In an ideal situation, I would like to have set a system up using Edmodo but knowing that other schools would then be faced with the 'barrier' of having to learn how to use it before they could share something, I opted instead with the Posterous option. This is the next-best-thing in my opinion as people just need to send an email to a specific address for the contribution to appear online for others to view.

You'll notice in these instructions that I ask people to tag their contributions with some key words - this means that people looking for resources on the blog can choose themselves whether to view posts about a particular: structure, year group or subject (or by doing a key word search).

Whether or not the blog is a success will now depend on how many people choose to share their ideas/resources on. It is certainly much more user-friendly than the current system and I really hope that it well get more people to appreciate the value in sharing their work online with a global audience (e.g. through traffic numbers and positive feedback through comments).

New Bee-Bot App

I've always been a fan of using the Bee-Bot to help teach control programming skills in the EYFS - see this blog post.

As children get older and want to make it travel along more complex routes however, I've often found that they can get a little impatient waiting for their turn. To address this issue, our Year 1 children are therefore taught how to program the on-screen version of the Bee-Bot using a program on the computers called Focus on Bee-Bot - see this article I wrote about it a couple of years ago.

This weekend, TTS Group launched a new app for iOS devices that offers a similar experience for handheld devices - download it here on iTunes.

Replicating the real Bee-Bot, this version is controlled by tapping on directional arrows to enter the commands before then pressing the green 'go' icon to execute them. It even makes the same sound effects as it moves along!

At the time of writing, the app consists of 12 levels of increasing difficulty in which you need to direct the Bee-Bot around various tracks in a garden to reach a pretty flower. There's a tiny timer displayed in the top-right corner of the screen and when you complete a level you have the option of typing in your name to record your best time.

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My initial thoughts on the app are that it is a great addition to the suite of Bee-Bot-related resources that are now available and would happily keep young learners engaged and focused in developing their programming skills. This first version is however, in my opinion, rather limited - there seems to be no actual need to use the 'pause' button and all the mats are based in a garden, for example. As the app is currently free though, I have high hopes that later versions will address these issues by including more variety in mat environments and places where the Bee-Bot needs to temporarily stop on its travels (perhaps through in-app purchases).

What are your thoughts on the new app and how would you like to see it be improved?

'Great Gadgets' PowerPoints

Creating information slideshows in PowerPoint has fallen out of fashion in recent years, however I do still feel that they deserve a place in the curriculum and children need to be taught how to create them properly.

I don't actually do any lessons on creating full PowerPoint presentations until Year 5 - lower down the school I instead focus on using more child-friendly applications (such as: the apptivities on Purple Mash, Microsoft Photo Story 3 and 2Create a Super Story) whilst they are still developing their skills to present researched information using ICT. With PowerPoint, I've found that just asking children in Years 3 and 4 to create single information slides/posters (with the orientation set to portrait) is enough as they can clearly relate the space available for working on to a blank sheet of paper.

By the time children arrive in Year 5, they are hopefully capable at finding facts online and using basic PowerPoint skills to present them (e.g. adding text boxes, formatting the appearance of text for effect and inserting pictures as illustrations) so are thefore ready to be allowed to create presentations made up of several slides that play in a linear order. Whilst some of these slideshows may be made in literacy lessons, in ICT lessons I deliver two short PowerPoint projects:

1. Firstly, I teach them them the main techniques involved in creating a basic presentation (e.g. adding new slides with different slide layouts) and ask them to create a factual presentation about a particular topic being studied in class with a lot of step-by-step guidance about what to include where and when.
2. Secondly, I give them a more independent presentation to create in which they have more choice about what to put on each slide and what tools to use to improve their appearance.

For this second independent presentation, I came up with the brilliant idea this year of letting them do it on their favourite ICT gadgets. This turned out to be hugely successful - not only because it meant they could do work on things they were interested in but also because it enabled me to do some lessons on the impact of ICT in modern life too (something that I've really found hard to think of how to cover in the past).

I began by doing a quick game of 'rally table' with them - this basically involved them passing a sheet of paper listing a dozen gadgets on it with a partner and them taking it in turns to write down how each could be used. This got them thinking about the wide variety of uses different gadgets have and it allowed the class to have a discussion in which they shared their experiences of using some of them.

After that, I then gave them a sheet of PowerPoint ICT skills that I expected them to use/include in creating their presentations about their favourite gadgets before just letting them work on making their presentations up. Having done lots of specific-skills teaching in the previous project and through using the 'Independent on the Computer Tokens' system, it meant that lots of children could simply then spend the rest of the first lesson and the majority of the second lesson working on the laptops independently. The 'tick-off' skills sheet and my learning intention slide displayed on the IWB clearly gave them my expectations of what I wanted them to achieve and is was highly evident that everyone was focused and engaged in the task.

Shortly before the end of the second lesson, I then asked them to share their completed presentations with others. This meant that everyone could appreciate that PowerPoint presentations are made for playing in full screen mode and gave them the chance to peer-assess each other's work.

In conclusion, the work they created was of a high standard and they all really enjoyed making their presentations - "this is the best ICT lesson this year" one boy told me! From an ICT viewpoint, it enabled them to develop their PowerPoint skills whilst learning about the wide variety of technology that is around in society today. The feedback they gave each other at the end turned out to be quite interesting too with one comment being that one presentation had too many entrance animations in it - this will hopefully be something that they learn to correct in Year 6 when their PowerPoint skills are built upon through creating a nativity story retelling (developing custom animation skills) and through creating a non-linear presentation about the Titanic disaster (teaching them how to use master slides and apply action settings to objects on slides).

To end, here are some resources I've made (using some of @bevevans22's fabulous clip art) to create a display of their work with in the ICT suite if it's of any use:

Spreadsheet Challenges

This year when I was delivering my 'theme park spreadsheets' project with Year 6, I found when I gave them more independence in completing the work a few children needed that bit extra challenge at the end when they had completed everything. I therefore produced a set of six mini challenge cards to help consolidate/teach them new spreadsheet skills:

Purple Mash Presentation

Here's a copy of the short presentation I gave on the 2Simple Software stand at BETT 2012 about the amazing impact several of the creative tools available on Purple Mash has had in my school.

NAACE ICT Impact Award – Thank you for your Contributions

To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement!

I need to say a huge, huge THANK YOU to everyone who took up their time to submit a contribution for the video I need to create for the Naace ICT Impact Award judges.

I must apologise if I omitted/edited your contribution in the final piece - the three minute time limit was quite a challenge to work to, especially when I knew I wanted it to contain a mixture of: video of me talking, video of pupils at my school talking about/using my resources, text comments from teachers, video comments from teachers, screenshots of my blog and evidence that my work has impact across the world. In order that I don't leave anybody out, please do take a moment to read all the lovely comments I had to choose from by clicking here or watch the full-length copies of the audio-visual comments I received too by clicking here - you'll hopefully see how hard it was to fit everything I wanted to in just three minutes!

Anyway, onto the video - here it is showing that I have a global impact on the teaching of primary ICT. I hope you enjoy it!

(The winner of the award will be announced on Friday 9th March. Even if I'm not successful, the fact that I was shortlisted and all the contributions I was sent for the video are proof enough for me that I do have impact somewhere.)

Independent on the Computer Tokens

(Credit to my Deputy Head for the initial idea behind this blog post.)

At my school, ICT lessons with KS2 children take place in the classrooms, with nearly every child having their own laptop to work on. Since it isn't practical to ask children to bring their laptop to the desk at the front every time they need help, I often spend a lot of the main activity part of ICT lessons wandering around the room supporting individual children where they are sitting.

Whilst this makes the room easy manage (as everyone should in theory be sat down), it does however mean that I end up walking a good mile-or-so in the space of an hour continually bending up/down and navigating my way around the desks and chairs. It can get quite tiring and sometimes frustrating too - especially the times when I end up crossing the room only to have to point out that the 'undo' icon needs pressing to correct the mistake!

The solution - hand out an Independent on the Computer Token to each child. Explain to the class that the table with the most ICT tokens at the end will win some team/house points. Every time a child is given help when they ask for it, the table loses a token - however extra tokens can be rewarded to those tables on which all the children are focused and on-task. (You obviously don't take away tokens for any help you choose to give - such as to teach an additional technique to challenge a particular child a bit more.)

 

The system worked fantastically this afternoon with Year 4 - the children soon realised that they would be more likely to win if they tried to solve problems independently by themselves and not keep pestering me for help. They all managed to successfully complete the task set them (which I had clearly outlined at the start and kept them reminded of using one of my 4-step learning intention PowerPoints) and it was great to see children on each table working together as a team, with the more confident children eager to share their knowledge/skills with the less confident children. I also finished the lesson a lot less tired too! 

  

Please do try using Independent on the Computer Tokens with your class and send me a comment to let me know how you get on!

Student Selector

This year I have been introduced to the power of Kagan Structures for Co-Operative Learning (see here and here for more details).

Quite a lot of the structures involve children being picked randomly from within a group to take a more leading role in a task. The 'official' random-number spinner is only available as a commercial release so I decided to create my own version of it using PowerPoint (which also contains an extra circle for groups of six children) for you to download for free to use in your classroom. Enjoy!

Download Student Selector by Simon Haughton

Creating a Book Review Group on Edmodo

I've found that children really like joining groups on Edmodo - probably because it makes them happy when they feel they belong to lots of different communities.

A couple of weeks ago I created a 'book reviews' group for my school in which children could write and share reviews of any books that they have enjoyed reading recently. Since then it has become very popular and nearly every day I now see a new review being added to it by a pupil - indeed, it's turning into a fantastic way of promoting and improving children's enjoyment of reading books for pleasure.

To make everyone aware of the group's presence, I asked a couple of eager children to each design a poster advertising it and explaining how it could be joined (i.e. what the group code was). This helped to put a bit of child-ownership on the project and seemed to be a great way of attracting members who would likely be more interested in promotion by a friend their age than by an adult. 

In order to keep the group's message stream tidy and free from distracting 'chat', I opted to implement the new 'moderate posts' setting in Edmodo. This means that all messages sent to the group are held for moderation by the owner (in this case me) before they appear. Any new reviews/replies that aren't good enough quality I simply delete before others get the chance to read them. 

To encourage good review writing, however, I ensured that the first message posted to the group contained my expectations and success criteria for what features should be included and I also created a badge to reward to those who successfully follow them. 

Download Book Review Badges

Have you created any interesting groups on Edmodo for encouraging online learning?