Children using ICT children to reflect on experience and learning
Activity summary – Children reflecting
Identify different purposes for recording classroom activities.
Consider role of recording in supporting assessment for learning.
Consider implications for planning in using recording for assessment.
In our work with student teachers we feel it is important to develop awareness of ways in which ICT can be used to capture and record sound and still and moving images and how such facilities can support children's learning. An activity we find useful for this purpose is to provide a number of different scenarios which illustrate such use of ICT and ask the student teachers to discuss the following questions:
For each scenario, discuss the following:
What is recorded and what form of ICT is used?
What is the purpose of recording?
How would the teacher need to prepare the children prior to the activity?
What would the teacher's role be during the recording of the activity?
Examples of scenarios we have used include the following written vignettes. Recorded examples of classroom practice or extracts from materials such as those included in the CDs in the Primary National Strategy example materials (DfES) are also useful.
Examples of ICT being used to record language/learning in process
A Year 5 class have read the poem 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare and have been asked work in small groups to present an image from the poem. Each group takes responsibility for recording this image using the digital camera. Later the teacher presents these images on the interactive whiteboard and uses hot-seating to explore the thoughts and feelings of the traveller in greater depth. This later leads to a writing activity, when the children write a letter from the traveller which he leaves at the scene.
Story telling - A Y2 class have been visited by a professional story teller. They have discussed features of story telling which capture and hold the attention of the audience. In groups they then focus on a specific fairy tale/traditional story which they will tell to children in the Reception class. They plan together but then prepare individual story tellings which they record on audio tape. In pairs they listen to the tape and consider ways in which they can improve the telling.
Year 1 children have been exploring the story of Cinderella. They have been asked to create freeze frames to show Cinderella before, during and after the visit of the Fairy Godmother. The teacher takes photos of these freeze frames and later displays them on the interactive whiteboard. The class discuss Cinderella's feelings before the Fairy Godmother arrives and the teacher annotates the image with thought bubbles which the children fill. The teacher then prints off pictures of the remaining freeze frames with thought bubbles and the children complete these independently.
In Year 6, children have been asked to work in groups to consider how to deal with a bullying problem encountered by younger children on the playground. In a previous session they discussed ways in which to participate in a discussion, the importance of listening to others, building on others' suggestions and making and justifying alternative views. Before the discussion, the teacher has asked the children to consider what they need to focus on in the participating in the discussion. After the discussion they are asked to mark themselves on the following cline:
I found it hard to listen___________________________I listened carefully to others
I did not add any ideas to others___________________I often added ideas to what
others said
I disagreed without giving reasons__________________When I disagreed I always gave reasons
I did not suggest any views of my own_______________________________________I added many ideas of my own
Each group discussion was recorded using an audio tape recorder. After they had completed the reflection activity, the children listened to the tape and decided whether their perception was accurate.
A Year 2 class have been looking at instruction texts. They have begun to draft instructions for how to look after their Tamagotchis. In a shared writing session the teacher presents one of children's drafts on the interactive whiteboard. The class read the instructions together and discuss ways in which the instructions are successful and ways in which they could be improved.
Recording children's work is clearly very valuable in providing opportunities for reflection on learning and performance and can play a crucial role in supporting assessment for learning (http://www.qca.org.uk/10009.html) Examples b) and e) above illustrate this but student teachers can be asked to provide additional examples.
Student teachers can then be asked to discuss in greater depth the use of self assessment based on a recorded activity. For one of the scenarios discussed in ii) above, they may be asked to discuss factors which would need to be considered relating to:
Grouping and classroom organisation
Possible impact of recording of activity
Selection of focus activity for children
Introduction of focus activity to children
Support for children during the focus activity
Introduction of self assessment activity to the children
