...that Animation is AWESOME fun!

This video is fantastic! As a simple taster for what children aged eight can do with ICT, it shows that we as teacher's who might be negative about ICT, shouldn't let it stop the children being pioneer's of the subject. Some people would say, "Year 4? Animation? Nah...Can't be done, don't have the resources! etc etc"

Peter's Problem shows what can be done, and there are obvious links to Religious Education. I have really enjoyed making our Animation as a group which is entitled, 'On Top of Spaghetti...'



I hope that this shows that as a group, we felt that animation was an excellent tool to be able to use with the children, and that we would consider using it ourselves in the classroom.

...that he should post about all of the thoughts and ideas he has had over the course of this ICT module!

As I have wained with my vigilance on ensuring that I have been updating this blog every week, I am going to go over all my notes and thoughts and ideas that I have jotted down, and bring them to you, the reader of my blog.

So, to become a 'pioneer' of the internet, you must be a user of Web 2.0 technology in this day and age. Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, Youtube etc, all sites that I use without thought. They are easy to follow and use, and can allow you to 'put yourself' in thoughts, videos, pictures, information etc to the World via the World Wide Web. Blogger is a fantastic tool, as I have seen from everyone's blogs, as it allows you to give simple videos, links and ideas to others, sharing what you have found out.

However, there are clearly some dangers with this in the Primary Classroom. You wouldn't give a 6 year old facebook for example. The benefits are huge, when facilitated properly by the school and the teachers, for children to be able to interact in a virtual world, allowing learning, interacting and socialising to happen outside of the everyday classroom situation.

...that ICT in the Classroom will vary depending on the confidence of the Teacher

Having experienced ICT and the use of it by over ten teachers to date, I would certainly feel that the lessons, whether using ICT to aid a lesson or an actual ICT lesson, have varied from Exchange, all the way to Extend, while showing elements of Empower.

I feel that I have realized that a teacher's ability in ICT, begins with their own confidence in the technology they are using. If a teacher is unsure whether training, or bad experience, etc, then they will shy away and use it as an 'Exchange' rather than to actually 'Extend' and deliver excellent lessons using their own ICT skills and confidence.

I have found this video that is about a school that received bad marks from Ofsted for its lack of ICT provision in school. I edited it down to the most important parts, and it is just less than five minutes long, but will really help you to understand why I think it is so important for teachers to be secure and confident with the very technology in their classrooms.

If you wish to view the original video, please click on the link at the top of this post which will take you to Teachers tv.