Y4 evaluations

Here is an additional example of work completed in Y4 ...

An improvement in writing quality ...

Here is a response from one teacher regarding the use of the visualiser. The scan shows the comments from the teacher about activities undertaken; effectiveness of the hardware; and a specific example of a peice of writing by a child who benefited from its use.

Itis very encouraging and exciting that the visualiser has played a role in improving the writing of a child. In particular, the child benefited from seeing a 'good example' of another child's work and then hearing constructive comments on developing his work further.

More work samples and comments to follow ...

Analysis of Visualiser Use

Over the coming week I will be speaking with all the teachers who have participated in the project and trying to see what impact the visualisers have had in their respective classes. I deliberately left out the 'progress' children will have made in my original proposal/aim, because it is unfair to expect teachers to measure attainment on top of a very heavy workload; and quite possibly because it is, like the use of IWBs, quite difficult to measure in isolation. Instead I will focus on two main questions:

1. the lessons and activities that the visualisers were used for; and

2. how effective teachers found the hardware in helping to deliver the aims of the lessons.

These will of course, have had an impact on overall attainment anyway.

I will upload the feedback I receive with work examples/photographs to compliment this.

Feedback from Year 5

I have been talking to teachers in the school about their uses of the hardware so far. Ian Broyd, who leads year 5, made the following comment:

"The advantages of using the visualisers is that you show the children what their peers can do. When you type up work to show it loses something in the translation. It made the children realise what constitutes a good piece of work and the lengths that some of them have gone to.
The children were all very positive about the experience and I had more volunteers to show their work than I could fit in one session."

It is always exciting as a teacher when children are really motivated by their learning and want to contribute to whole class sessions. I have continued to use the visualiser in our Where the Wild Things Are literacy sessions. Three weeks of one book just whizzed by with a variety of rich multi-media being used to enhance the whole teaching process. The children have begun to use the visualiser themselves, which is enhancing their own ICT skills for the Control aspect of the schemes of work we follow.

All books become BIG BOOKS

Our school has started receiving a monthly visit from Redbridge's mobile library bus. This has really excited the children. In Year 1, we have been using the visualiser to turn all books into big books. The children are so enthusiastic about sharing their chosen books with the class and love seeing the illustrations and text on the 'big screen'.

The process of selecting books and encouraging the children to pre-read these at home before the sessions is make a positive contribution to their reading diet. I will keep you posted about further developments with this use.

Fruit Salad Demo

I used the visualiser for the first time with my class (Year 1) before we broke up for the Spring holiday. Of course, gadgets of this nature never fail to attract the attention of small children and I was not to be proven wrong on this occasion.

The greatest thing about this visualiser though is its sheer portability. I have previously seen an ICT Consultant from Havering using one last year at Manford Primary (a Whiteboard Network meeting). He showed it alongside a more expensive model. The demonstration really put me off of even considering the lower quality product. The resolution was so poor.

I was half expecting a similar standard with these ones, but technology really does move fast. The standard of the Genee Mini Visualiser is almost on a par with the more expensive one our school owns. There was no graininess or time lags when moving an object at all.

I used the visualiser to demonstrate how to create a fruit salad, not the most exciting things for adults, but 5 year olds always think that you are 'so clever' and a 'good cook' when you peel and cut an apple!

They were fascinated by the enlarged real-time image being projected onto the Smart board and this modeling allowed them to peel, cut and mix the fruit completely unaided. Without this I would have had to have demonstrated this task with a small group at a time.

The children then wrote instructions for the process ...

What is a blog?

This video is an excellent animated introduction to the history of this form of communication:

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