Day 4 of iPods project

Woohoo!! Felling much better about it now that the groups have started recording and I can the fruits of their (and my) labours. 3 out of 7 group have now created something - it isn't perfect and they are learning things like 'if you record in a windy part of the school you won't be able to hear your voices' and 'if you try to record outside somebody classroom, you will be politely asked to go away' (both things that I warned them of prior to letting them go!!). But every cloud has a silver lining and this is the perfect opportunity to teach them how to edit their videos and sound clips using iMovie, something that the pupils claim never to have come across. That is a very exciting and I can't wait to get started with that.

So next lesson, they will be finishing their recordings and I will be starting to teach them about editing.

Still no joy with my blog access permissions :( ... think that this time I am just going to have to do all the uploading for them. Shame as I wanted the blog to be theirs, but nevermind!!!

Issues so far

So far I have come accross a few stumbling blocks. This is OK as I am aware that my project is a complete experiment, and that is what experiments are for! Hopefully I will learn from them so that next time things will run a lot more smoothly.

1. Things are running a lot less quickly than I was expecting them to. I am still not entirely sure why this is. I am thinking that perhaps next time I need to give pupils some more support initially so that things don't keep going wrong for them!!

2. The German being produced is of a good standard (generally speaking) but a lot of the groups have chosen the same topic (meeting people) and tried to cram a bit too much in. Next time I think I will give each group their topics to avoid this.

3. I think that perhaps it would be good if I had a bit more of a solid structure with more definite ideas of what I would like them to do each lesson. This is hard at the moment, because we are in the experimental stages, and again this will be a lot easier to do next time when I will know exactly how long things will take and what issue might crop up!!

4. For some reason, depsite having added everyone's email addresses to their blog, they are unable to write!! I have enabled them to be authors and shown them how to do it... So there is nothing on the blog yet which is a real pain and they are getting a bit frustrated. Thing I will have to start again with that one! I destroyed the paper with their email addresses on it for confidentiality/child protection reasons so I shall have to ask them all again...


So apart fprm all the above things are running fine. Hectically, but fine.

Days 1,2,3

So far this is how far we have got:

• I have taught all pupils how to use an iPod. This was interesting. I asked the class first of all how many of them knew how to use an iPod, and the vast majority of them put up their hands. I believed them, and then was very surprised by how many of them were still getting simple things wrong. Lesson learnt: Do not take for granted that pupils know how to use technology!!!!!  
• All pupils have been introduced to the App "Puppet Pals" and know how to use it. This is a simple App that allows the user to create 'puppet shows' on an iPod with voice-overs.
• They have all planned out what they would like to include in their revision guides.
• All the German has been scripted by them and then checked by me.

Some pupils have also already started taking some shots that they would like to use. All pupils should be ready next lesson to start filming.

Once this is done (hopefully it shouldn't take longer than a lesson and a half..., I will give them a quick lesson on note taking (another importnat skill) and then expect them to take notes while I teach them how to use iMovie.

iPod German project

At the moment I am working on a project with year nine. They have finished their FCSE exams and their official SOW for the year and they now have a bit of what I call ‘free-learning time’. I have about 5 weeks with them where they are still in German lessons, they have finished everything that they have to do in year nine but still need to be learning language. The class is a top set and about half of them are continuing with German at GCSE either next year or the year after.

The project:

·         Pupils will have their own blog for uploading their work, asking questions, starting learning conversations.

·         In the next 5 weeks they will be expected to produce revision materials for future year nine classes to use when they are doing their FCSEs.

·         They have been given a range of tools to work with, including iPods, video cameras, laptops, and a couple of Apps.

·         Each group has chosen a couple of themes to work with – the pupils taking German next year have been told that there must be a focus on grammar topics that they will also find useful next year.

Reasons for the project:

·         For pupils to become more motivated in language lessons.

·         I think it would be useful for future year nine pupils to have some learning resources that have been created by their peers.   

·         It is important that those taking German next year continue to learn as much as they can in terms of vocabulary and grammar – this can become increasingly difficult for a teacher to manage as the ‘non-linguists’ in class become more and more disengaged towards the end of year nine.

·         Technology is something that I feel it is important to experiment with in all subjects in order to keep learning relevant and ‘skill – orientated’. The majority of pupils will undoubtedly find themselves in jobs where they are using technology in the future and so it is important that they gain the necessary skills for this in school. Equally it is a way of showing pupils how school subjects do fit into a modern way of life and making the subjects relevant to them.

Edmodo

"Miss. - it's just like Facebook!" Yup, it is. Edmodo cannot fail to win over teenagers with it's social networking feel and appearance. Introducing pupils to blogging (being new to the concept myself) was a daunting prospect, but one which I don't think I will ever want to move away from in my teaching career.

But why is Edmodo better than a regular blogging platform?

Well I personally felt safer, especially as a 'beginner', knowing that everything that I wrote and that the pupils write was totally private. It means that I can upload videos and photos, pupils' work without a cloud of 'what-ifs' hanging over my head. In order to see what is posted in the group, either I have to declare it as public or allow somebody to join the group with a special code.

Additionally, I can monitor who of my pupils posts anything. I can change their passwords, allow them to 'read only' and delete pupils if ever I need too.

And of course, the pupils love the fact that they are in posession of a group that is 100% theirs, with their identity stamped all over it and where they can show off what they can do without the embarassment of speaking in front of their peers.

There are obvious attractions to public blogging too - but I think that for my class of year 8 pupils, Edmodo offers the perfect balance; protection that comes with the privacy that the site offers whilst they are still young and learning about e-safety, and liberation that comes with being able to show off and express themselves on the internet.

Mobile phones in lessons

I have to say that using mobile phones in a yr8 lesson on Monday was possibly the best thing I have done with them this year. Not only did they learn more than I could ever have expected, the relationship I now have with the class, three lessons on, is far better than it ever has been. Why? Well, they learnt more because they were engaged, communicating the way they know best and desperate to prove to me that giving them freedom to use their favourite posessions in class was a worthwhile experiment. And the relationship has improved because they see me as someone who wants them to learn and have fun, rather than just the annoying, moaning woman that stands in front of them twice a week to trying to convince them that languages are fun and worth learning.

I suppose it's simple really. Kids have changed - they live in a world where they are surrounded by technology and in order to make learning anything seem relevant to them, we need to speak their language and show them how our subjects can fit into their technologically orientated lives.

Food art project in German

My year nine class did an art project in German to help them learn some key phrases and opinions about food that are personal to them. They did extremely well and these are some of the pieces of work that they produced.