Week 4


Hi everyone, 

Only me again...reporting and reflecting on another fab ICT session.  The topic this week was Digital Imaging: Speaking and Listening. We learnt about the ways in which technology can support speaking and listening in the primary classroom.  

For example, we looked at talking photo albums! I had seen those photo frames that changed photos automatically but had never come across ones that could talk back to you!  We found out that they are particularly good for literacy and can be used as:

• photo sequences
• presentations
• for EAL students – key phrases  
• Digital story book – could do it as part of a group
• word recognition 

We were also introduced to Talk Tins which are good for recording and playing back short sound clips. This is great as a teacher for recording instructions for children to follow.  You could have them already set out on the table ready for children to listen to.  Another way in which they can be used is if they are hidden as part of a treasure hunt.  Talk tins are really useful for developing speaking and listening skills. They come in different colours and different talk times. 

Another activity we learnt about was the Talk Time Cards. These come in a variety of sizes and are also used for recording and playing back recordings.   A benefit of Talk Time Cards is that the recording time is limited so this enables children to stay focused on the task at hand and allow them to record what is really needed. 

Podcasts

I had heard about podcasts, mainly from the radio but had never actually investigated about what they are.  Podcasting, I was told in our lesson today is the art of making audio files online, usually like a radio show. Podcasts allow software to automatically detect new files and download them and they can come in MP3 format.  Podcasts are very popular in schools and are used by children to record their thoughts and ideas, publish interviews, improve their modern foreign language skills as well as developing a whole host of skills.  

Some Year 6 children at Bushey Hill Junior School made a podcast to record some Nonsense poems.  These can be heard and appreciated by all.  Click on the link below to hear some of their poems.

 

 

Bushey Hill Juniors Podcast  

Podcasts are great for childrens' confidence, group work and especially motivation as they know that their work has an audience.

Webcams 

In our lesson we were also told about we can use webcams in school to take still images as well as moving ones. As well as the camera (usually what is known as an eyeball camera) you will also need software to run the camera online. Children can use the webcam to observe things that are going on in the classroom, for example, in Science.  They can observe snails in an environment.  They could also observe birds that visit, the children could be asked to look at what the birds eat and how they behave.

Digital Camera

In our session we were asked to work on one area of digital imaging and produce something creative by the end of the lesson.  My group and I used a digital camera and play dough to produce a moving story board.  We started of by creating a story which involved Bill who was taking his dog Monty for a walk. We created the characters out of play dough and took still images of the 'characters' in different moments in the story.  We then used a software programme called Photostory 3 to create put our still images together.  The result, as you can see below was something like a moving storyboard.