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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The borough has recently purchased 10 visualisers for use in Redbridge schools. Our school has been chosen, after a bid was successful. Below is the bid and it describes how the school will use them to best effect in the term we have them on loan:

 ICT Innovation Project

Gene Mini Vision

 

Submitted by: Andrew Michael (ICT Leader)

William Torbitt Primary School

 

William Torbitt Primary School has recently invested heavily in updating the infrastructure of ICT provision for staff and pupils. Interactive Whiteboards (networked to a central server) have now become an integral part of many lessons with staff enthusing about the impact they have on their lessons and the possibilities they present for learning. Recently, the school obtained one large format visualiser. Although it has been used, sharing it between 18 classrooms and the constant setting up of it has highlighted the difficulty of it not being more portable.

 

Given the opportunity to partake, the school will closely align the aims of this project to the Self Evaluation Form and Improvement Plan, both of which highlight writing as a focus. The visualisers will allow for clearer and hence, more effective modelling and immersion of reading and writing to take place. The ‘process’ of writing will become an integral part of each lesson with further exemplification given for improving content and form. In addition, they will be used across Key Stages 1 and 2 to:

 

• support speaking and listening – children in lower year groups running their own show and tell sessions;
• further improve access of EAL pupils to the curriculum, with an increase in visual as well as verbal lesson demonstrations;
• increase access to texts, with each book becoming a ‘big book’ without breaking copyright laws; and
• demonstrate ‘fiddly’ activities with ease ie sewing, mosaic work, and science experiments.

 

The project will seek to heighten the importance of Literacy, encouraging children to take further pride in their work and act as a visual prompt for self-correction, as well as offering clear examples of what ‘good’ work looks like.

 

Several staff at our school have recently become involved in forums and courses which address under and over achievement in writing. Members of the school’s leadership team are involved in the NCSL’s initiative of raising the achievement of more able pupils, and our Literacy leader is an active member of the borough’s own Improving Writing Group.

 

This project will have been successful if it raises the profile of writing; increases the quality of the finished piece; and aids each class teacher in their lesson delivery. This project could then be showcased as a model for writing across the borough, demonstrating how ICT can be used to support teaching and learning.

 

In order to offer ongoing feedback to fellow teachers and ICT Leaders in Redbridge, a section of the school’s website (www.williamtorbitt.org.uk) will be developed and updated on a regular basis. The borough’s ICT consultants will have the content of each update emailed to them directly.

 

The school will ensure that all classrooms are locked at the close of each school day and check that the alarm and CCTV are fully operational. For any extended periods of time when the equipment will not be in use there will be a lockable cupboard to safely store them in.