After working with children in school, share your observations and reflections. What surprises you? What were the challenges and how might you overcome these? What have you learnt?

Prior to working with the children and media in school, I had little confidence, which was due to my lack of experience in using media devices, as Palfrey and Gasser  (2008), explains our generation are ‘digital natives’. During the media lesson, we worked with a group of year three children, in producing an advertisement promoting the rights of the child. It was interesting that I observed that the boys were more eager to participate in operating the camera and equipment than the girls. This echoes the view that Wyse and Jones (2008) put forward, when explaining boys have a natural curiosity about how things work and are generally more kinesthetic learners. This implies that integrating media into the literacy lesson, will aid in appealing to boys and inevitably raising their attainment which Oftsed (1996) state is lower than girls, and has been an issue for over a decade.

On reflection, I noted that we were working with small groups of children, and questioned if this would work so well with a class of thirty children. When discussing this with the class teacher, he suggested that it is more manageable when working to achieve a whole class project. He explained that the teacher may want to delegate roles to certain children, in order to make it more manageable to monitor, and then swap the roles over so that each child experiences them all. He further added that this will reduce the time each child has on each stage of the film process, which supports the view of Allen, Potter, Sharp and Turvey (2012) who further conclude this will limit the boredom and fatigue the children may experience as editing is a lengthy process.

Overall the experience of working with children and media has proven to be beneficial to my own learning, and also to theirs. I have learnt that it is a great tool for motivating boys to participate, and their previous knowledge interested me. I did not expect children in year three to have confidence in using the equipment, and expressing their views on how the film should look. This has inspired me to incorporate the use of media into my own lessons as a future teacher, as the children clearly gain a lot from the overall experience, and enjoy the process which I feel will in turn motivate me to improve my own knowledge.

A question, which still remains for me, is that would the children be as engaged if they did not have such specialist facilities, and a knowledgeable specialist media teacher? It would be interesting to teach a similar lesson in a different school, as I am aware this was only a snap shot experience, and I may see different outcomes in a different setting. 

Bibliography

Allen, J., Potter, J., Sharp, J. and Turvey, K. (2012) primary ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice London: Sage Learning Matters.

Ofsted. (1996) The gender divide. London: HMSO.

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books.

Wyse, D. and Jones, R. (2008) Teaching English, Language and Literacy (2^nd Edition) Abingdon: Routledge

week 9 blog

After working with children in school, share your observations and reflections. What surprises you? What were the challenges and how might you overcome these? What have you learnt?

Before attending the session I felt anxious due to having limited knowledge of editing and working with the children within a short time limit to create the advertisement. However, I was surprised how well the filming process went. All the children were engaged in the task, which could be due to working with new technology which has been seen to increase engagement (Montgomery and Gottlieb-Robles, 2006). When speaking to the children I was surprised of their knowledge of the process of filming and editing. However, I do question if this is due to: filming being a familiar process due to the schools resources or if it is that the generation are ‘digital natives’ (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). I was also surprised how well the children worked and the pace they worked at when filming, this surprised me due to my original concern of not completing the filming in the time frame.

After reading literature I found it interesting to see how my experiences with the children supported the literature. Willett (2009) stated that it is important for children to be able to share their media productions with a potential global audience. After introducing the task to the children, the first question a child raised was if the advert would go on to the internet to be shared, I found this interesting that a year three child supported Willett’s theory. Wyse and Jones (2008) proposed that boys are generally more interested in new technology than girls. This was apparent as the boys tended to want to have the filming role more than the girls.

When filming with the children a question was raised, how would a teacher support a whole class when creating media based projects? From a discussion with the teacher he advised doing whole class projects where each group of children have different roles until the children have enough knowledge and skills to work within a small group with teacher support. A challenge when working under a time limit was the editing process, a way of overcoming this which was advised by a teacher was to make media projects cross curricular to gain more time. Allen, Potter, Sharp and Turvey (2012) claim that children should begin with simple editing software packages, using a basic software package may resolve the time issue when editing with children.

Allen, J., Potter, J., Sharp, J. and Turvey, K. (2012) primary ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice London: Sage Learning Matters

Montgomery, K. and Gottlieb-Robles, B. (2006) ‘Youth as e-Citizens: The Internet’s Contribution to Civic Engagement’ in Buckingham, D. and Willett, R. (Eds) Digital Generations: Children, Young people, and New Media New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc 

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books

Willett, R. (2009) ‘Young People’s Videos Productions as New Sites of Learning’ in Carrington, V. and Robinson, M. (Eds) Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices London: Sage

Wyse, D. and Jones, R. (2008) Teaching English, Language and Literacy (2^nd Edition) Abingdon: Routledge

week 10 - ED

Week 10 – Summary of the module identifying the implications for my future role as an English subject leader.

 

Taking part in this module has definitely provided me with a greater understanding of teaching using media, language and technology. It has allowed me to think about what different technologies are available within school and what benefits and challenges they may have to children’s learning development. I have really enjoyed learning about why teachers should teach digital literacy, as prior to the module I held a pessimistic view toward using technology in the classroom, however I am now aware of the integral benefits to children learning and have changed my opinion. The visits to Shirley Warren Primary School were specifically memorable and helpful, as they allowed me to put my current knowledge into practice, and I was pleased with the outcome of using technology with children and how successful the sessions were to both working with the children and my own understanding of technology.  

 

After participating in the module, I am now aware that today’s children are different to any other past generation due to their constant exposure and use of digital media (21^stCFP). Due to being in ‘the most rapid period of technological transformation ever’ (Palfrey and Gasser 2008:3), teacher’s, such as myself especially as an English specialist, but become learners themselves and ‘discover the digital world’ (21^stCFP).

 

Bibliography

 

The 21^st century Fluency Project Understanding Digital

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books

Week 9

Multimedia and Multiliteracies in the Primary School: Linking Theory and Practice

 

Today’s session in school enabled our own learning of using technology to be put into practice, children were engaged and enjoyed the process of making a film, enjoying the roles they took such as camera man, presenter and actors. I was impressed at the children’s knowledge of how to improve their films through editing; they came up with many suggestions such as to add music, words, titles and credits, this could link to research of children being ‘digital natives’ (FutureLab, 2010).

Through using film with children a previous concern that these activities may be time consuming to set up was answered, I recognised how easy film can be implemented and carried out and the equipment was straight forward to use as we learnt alongside the children to correct any mistakes such as background noise affecting scenes. However I did find the process of editing our film time consuming, I wonder if the children’s true appreciation of film is lost when teacher’s edit the films for the children? Are we missing an opportunity to extend children’s knowledge of ICT in an exciting and motivating context (Allan et al, 2012)?  However on the other hand, how realistic is it to expect children to be able to engage in this process as we found ourselves it is very time consuming and can be tricky to get to grips with it is likely children would need support and extended time to engage with all sources and create a satisfying outcome (Wyse and Jones, 2008: 243).

 

Overall the outcome of filming and editing the videos was effective and even for us as teachers we were proud of the outcome, therefore as discussed in previous blogs this context for learning can be really motivating for the children.

 

Allen, J. Potter, J. Sharp, J. Turvey, K. (2012) Primary ICT knowledge, Understanding and Practice London:Sage Learning Matters (Chapter 11 Digital Video)

 

FutureLab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum: (Sections to be read: Introduction & The Importance of Digital Literacy)

http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf

 

Wyse, D. & Jones, R. (2008) Teaching English, Language and Literacy Second Edition Abingdon: Routledge

Having reflected on the use of technology and media on school experience, discuss anything that surprises or challenges you. What questions arise for you as a result?

Having reflected on the use of technology and media on school experience, discuss anything that 

surprises or challenges you. What questions arise for you as a result?

Within all of my school experiences technology has been used to extend and further learning. However, many of these extension tasks have needed skills in the use of the technology to be completed successfully. Luckily, as Palfrey and Gasser (2008) name them, the majority of the students were “Digital Natives” and could easily access the technology and complete the task with ease. In some cases, children’s media-based creative work showed excellent skills in writing and creativity. However, to compare the same task without the use of technology the same skills were not as well resembled by pen on paper.

This raises a question, has the technology freed the child from the strains of handwriting and given them the ability to purely think of the creative form and content of their writing? Or, does it resemble the over-powering nature of technology in “Digital Natives” (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008) lives. The fear that many parents and teachers share, that digital literacy hinders and discourages the reading of more enriched and traditional literature (Millard and Marsh, 2001).

Personally, I believe that the use of technology in schools is wholly well done, however it should not be used purely to extend but have its own place in the curriculum that teaches children the skills needed for, as well as the awareness of, technology and digital literacy in society today.

Palfrey, J. and Gaser, U (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the first generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books

Millard and Marsh (2001) Sending Minnie the MInx Home: Comics and reading choices' Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1

Week 8/9 - ED

After working with children in school, share your observations and reflections. What surprises you? What were the challenges and how might you overcome these? What have you learnt? 

After today's session working with the children in school creating a film, I feel that the time spent with the children was successful and I am proud of the outcome of our film. Although it was only a short time with the children, they were all engaged throughout, probably due to having new visitors, using interesting technology and allowing them to use their own ideas as much as possible. In reflection, making the film with the children went better than I thought. I was anxious beforehand as I was not sure about where things were in the school and how to use the camera etc, but the process wasn't complicated and the children were engaged and well behaved. What surprised me was how much the children knew about the filming process and when questioning them about what they would like to include in the film, they were aware of aspects such as credits and sound effects. I would question whether this was due to their age and being 'digital natives' (Palfrey & Gasser 2008) or was it due to the resources and teachers within their school?

From today, a challenge that became apparent was teaching a lesson like this to a class of 30 children on your own. To support this, it would be beneficial to give the children roles so they all have something to do, which worked well with our group today. I have learnt that the use of technology is schools is beneficial to engage children's learning across a wide range of subjects and to 'discover the digital world’ (21^st CFP: 4).

Bibliography

 The 21^st century Fluency Project Understanding Digital

 Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books

Having reflected on the use of technology and media at Shirley Warren Primary School, discuss anything that surprises or challenges you. What questions arise for you as a result of today's visit?

After having visited Shirley Warren Primary School and being shown around by Tom I was amazed at the vast quantity of media equipment and resources that the school had readily available. I found it hugely impressive the way they have brought the school into the 21^st century and really embraced the positive impact technology can have on our teaching.  I liked that the whole school seemed to be incorporated in this love of technology rather than just a small number of the staff and the fact that is was integrated into daily life within the school. Marsh et al (2005) found that there was a digital divide which influences teachers’ confidence in using technology, however Tom stated that is just a fear of the unknown. He solves this by ensuring all the teachers are trained with all equipment and by running technology drop in sessions on a fortnightly basis so his knowledge is readily available allowing teachers to ‘become learners themselves, and discover the digital world’ (21^st CFP: 4). Despite the fact that some of the projects undertaken by Shirley Warren, such as the radio station, were time consuming all staff seemed to be on side and get involved.

The technologies available to the class teachers were of a wide variety which, as an ICT specialist, was really interesting for me to see how they valued the very simple technologies up to the more technical media. I found it very inspiring to see such a committed, enthusiastic ICT coordinator and think that his passion is very much reflected throughout the school; the children are very lucky to have such access to the equipment. I have never had the fortune of working in a school with such passion around ICT but wonder whether, if all schools had such technologies available to them, they would put them into good use? 

Marsh, J. Brooks, G. Hughes, J. Ritchie,L. Roberts, S. Wright,K. (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new Technologies University of Sheffield

The 21^st century Fluency Project Understanding Digital Kids II