After working with children in school, share your observations and reflections.

During the planning stages of our video project at Shirley Warren School I was nervous and unsure as to how the experience would be. My main barrier was my confidence – what if I was unsure of how to use the technology? Would this impact on my session with the children? I hadn’t met these children before, what would their opinions be if they see I am unable to engage with the technology? The 21^st Century Fluency Project acknowledge this fear in teachers, saying that we will never have the level of technical skills digital learners have. (21^st CFP) FutureLab (2010) reassure this worry stating that even if their functional skills are not as developed they are still more equipped, with higher order critical thinking and also subject knowledge. (FutureLab 2010)

I later realised that this was unnecessary worrying. All the children were engaged and on task. They enjoyed the process of actively making something and all having a role to play. This motivated the children far more, I feel, than any activity in the classroom would have done. FutureLab (2010) recognised “increased levels of motivation where children’s own cultural knowledge is acknowledged in school settings” (FutureLab 2010:11) and I certainly noticed this too.

I was hugely impressed by the knowledge of the children when it came to using the equipment. When they were slightly unsure with an aspect of the technology they worked alongside one another, which Marsh et al (2005) discuss as being a huge advantage to incorporating technologies within our teaching – it is a very social way of learning. (Marsh et al 2005) They then went about figuring out how best to fix it; as the 21^st Century Fluency Project state “effective learners make a series of attachments or relationships between their existing knowledge and new information.” (21^st CFP:8)

Overall, from this experience, I learnt that technology can be very beneficial to the engagement and motivation within a classroom. It can also enable children to use their expert knowledge and produce a piece of work they are very proud of, which has just as much, if not more, thinking and work behind. From what I saw it most definitely delivered “engaged, inquisitive children” (McDougall). And not only was it a very successful session for the children – I also hugely enjoyed it! I think Tom has shown us there are definitely huge benefits behind acknowledging their culture. (21^st CFP)

Bibliography

FutureLab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum:

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

McDougall,S. One tablet or two? Opportunities for change in educational provision in the next 20 years. Futurelab:

The 21^st Century Fluency Project (2013) Understanding Digital Kids II