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E-portfolio of workBA (QTS) Primary Education 2010-2013Joanne Wright

Year oneInformation and Communication Technology

Session oneDigital PhotographyCommentaryIn session 1 we used digital cameras to take a picture of our partner and upload it from the camera onto Microsoft Word. Once we had done that we hade to make it into a wanted poster using different tolls in word. After we had finished that we had to use the picture of our partners, go onto Colour Magic and manipulate the picture to have a disguise. ReflectionYou could use digital photography in many areas of school life. It could be used to keep track of and asses a child's progress by taking pictures of the children at the beginning of the year and from then on comparing how far the child has come. Also it could be used as a form of evidence of the childrens work if it is a model or something that they can not put in their work books you could take a picture instead. Children can learn how to use the camera to take pictures and record idea for themselves as this helps the teacher but also teaches children a skill that they will use through out life. Using digital photography can help children and teachers cross-curricular as they can use it in many different subjects. For example in Physical Education it can be used to show what the children have done, games they have played and different positions they have made.

CommentaryIn this lesson we had to make a PowerPoint presentation on instructional writing. This got us using PowerPoint and thinking about getting children to write instructions to make something simple. Reflection I have had a lot of experience in using Microsoft PowerPoint so this lesson did not really extend my knowledge that much. It did give me a few more ideas about how children could PowerPoint. The DfE states in the national curriculum that Pupils should be taught:how to share their ideas by presenting information in a variety of forms [for example, text, images, tables, sounds]to present their completed work effectively [for example, for public display].Getting children to learn about using PowerPoint and making sure they understand the uses of it will link into this point of the national curriculum. As a tool for teaching PowerPoint can be very useful . As you can do many things on a PowerPoint like putting up pictures, videos and uploading text that can be used in mostSession twoPresentation software

Reflection continuedDigital photography can also be used in other subjects like Art or Design & Technology as the children can look at different art, take pictures and be creative with the subject they are taking the picture of. Teachers can benefit from using digital photography in school because it can help them to keep track of work that children do. It can be useful to go into evidence files as some work that children do might not be able to go into files, like work in Physical Education and any 3.D. work children might produce. What I thoughtI found this very interesting because it made me think about all this things that you could do by just using digital photography with in schools. I also enjoyed using colour magic because it was a lot like paint but you could do more things on it and create better images. HyperlinksWanted posterPicture changed using colour magic

Session fourInteractive WhiteboardsCommentaryIn this ICT session we learnt about the different programmes you could use of Interactive Whiteboards. We were given a chance to explore the whiteboards and look at the different programmes you can get on them and what purposes they have. We used a smart whiteboard but we talked about the different whiteboards that we had seen or used.

ReflectionInteractive Whiteboards are and can be used throughout all subjects across the curriculum. They should be used to enhance a lesson and be used as a visual aid. Interactive whiteboards can be very useful when teaching as it can help teachers to prepare things they wasnt to show to the class instead of writing it on a normal whiteboard through out the lesson. It enables them to create recourses that they would not be able to create or share with the whole class without Interactive Whiteboards. It helps them to make their lesson interesting and more interactive for the children. It can help teachers to plan and carry out their lessons as all they need could be on the interactive whiteboard and this should help the flow of a

Reflection continuedsubjects across the curriculum. For teachers it can save time in a lesson as they can have everything prepared that they want to put up on the interactive whiteboard therefore they wont have to spend time in the lesson writing things up. Using PowerPoint can aid teachers in aiming their lesson at all abilities because you can put up images, words and ideas to help the children with their work and they can be easily seen when put on and interactive whiteboard. One disadvantage for teachers using PowerPoint is that it can get used too much when its not needed, meaning that teachers read off the PowerPoint most of the time. For children using PowerPoint helps them to develop many skills for example, typing, uploading pictures. In this session we looked at using PowerPoint for use with instructional writing where we made a slideshow telling someone how to do or make something. I did mine on how to make a cup of tea.HyperlinksHow to make a cup of tea PowerPoint

Information and Communication TechnologyYear one BA (QTS)SessionsDigital PhotographyPresentation SoftwareInformation LiteracyInteractive White BoardsEarly Years Toys and TurtlesEarly Years Software Logo and Ways of WorkingData HandlingCreativity and ICTSchool Experience:10. Interactive whiteboardsEarly years Toys and turtlesInformation literacy

Discussion PointsThe National CurriculumInternet SafetySocial Network SitesThe benefits of ICT for children with SENLinksUseful WebsitesAnnotated bibliographyAcknowledgementsHome

Reflection continuedLesson as it can be all prepared in advance. One disadvantage for teachers is that they may need to be trained in using the interactive whiteboard because some of them can be quite complicated. Also you may not be able to be as flexible as you would be using a normal whiteboard as the teacher may find it hard to write or draw on the interactive board because of the different set up. Also if everything is prepared and set out changing the lesson or being flexible to the childrens needs becomes harder. For the children an interactive whiteboard can be very helpful to their learning because it enables children to see images and writing clearly as they teacher can upload things and make them the size she wishes. It can also encourage children getting involved and active in the lesson if they have to use the whiteboard to move things around or write on it. During this session I created a PHONICS GAME that could be interactive and get children involved. Using the interactive whiteboard in many subjects can be beneficial for both teachers and pupils. One website that has many different interactive sessions already created and ready to use is the Interactive Teaching Programmes. During this session we got given the chance to use the smart programme and create an interactive phonics game. This was very useful as it allowed us time to practice our skills and get used to using the system. HyperlinkPhonic game

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Session nineData Handling

CommentaryIn this session we looked at different ways to handle data when using ICT. We were given a chance to explore different databases online that sorted a lot of data. Two of the ones we lo0oked at was the 1911 Census and the CIA website.After this we looked at different software that children could use to create databases using ICT. We looked at two different programmes and these were Information Workshop and Microsoft Excel. ReflectionIt was very interesting looking at what different information and data was on the internet for public access. Information workshop is a really simple child-friendly programme that allows children to create a database, use it to make graphs and view it in different ways. It seems to be a simpler version of Microsoft Excel and I think that children would be able to use it better and more effectively.

Session tenCreativity and ICT

CommentaryIn this lesson we looked at two different programmes that teachers could use to introduce creativity into their ICT lessons. We looked at 2Animate and 2Create. 2Animate is a programme that was designed to let children create flip book type images. You can make an image and then copy it and change it a little, once the children have repeated these a few times they can play their images and it makes it into a movie type thing.2Create is for creating still images one after the other to make it into a book. I think that it seems to be a cross between PowerPoint and paint. ReflectionIt was really fun making and creating moving images. 2Animate unfortunately was very simple which is good for the right ability children but for any higher ability children this could be quite frustrating as it limits what kind of picture you are able to draw. As the programme is quite simple I think that the layout is very clear and easy to use and shows clearly the pages that you have created.

Early Years toys and turtlesSchool ExperienceI have done quite a bit of work experience in Early Years settings and one of the setting s that I was in used quite a lot of electronic toys, bee-bots and remote control cars. The children had free play where they were allowed to explore all the toys and work out for themselves what they did although there was adult support when needed. Whilst in a primary school I saw them use the bee-bots as part of a Geography lesson as the class had to build a basic map of their village and then they got a change to move the bee-bots around themap making sure they did not bang into buildings.

Information LiteracySchool ExperienceUsing the InternetOn my first placement in Year one I was working in a year 4 classroom and they had a session in the ICT suit that I was able to observe. Part of their lesson was to use a website which had specific maths games on for practicing their times tables. The children were not allowed to use Google to search for the website but instead they had to use ask kids. This had its problems as the website was blocked so the teacher had to walk around each child individually and type it into Google. There are some benefits of using ask kids because it does protect things from coming up that may not be suitable for children. A disadvantage is that it does limit what the children can search and sometimes blocks things that are fine for children to look at or use. Also using ask kids instead of Google meant that the teacher had to search it for the children which means they did not get the opportunity that time to increase their ICT skills.

The National CurriculumThe national Curriculum for ICT in Primary schools incorporates lots of skills that they think the children should use. You can use ICT within or alongside most other subjects which makes it a very useful tool throughout the school. ICT is an extremely broad subject which many uses and purposes as you can see above in this presentation. Children can use it as an aid to learn, to adapt things to suit their ability, to be creative, to use and sort data or to enhance a piece of work by making it look professional or presenting it. Many programmes or software can be aimed at different abilities as simple tasks can be performed but so can complicated, more difficult tasks. Getting children used to and using ICT at a young age can be beneficial as it allows them to build up the basic skills of mouse control, typing and using different programmes.

Internet SafetyBeing safe on the internet should be at the priority of teachers and schools when children are using computers and ICT. There are many ways in which a school can try and keep children safe whist using ICT. Many of them mean putting up a block or a tool to restrict what the children can do, search and access on the internet. Many websites such as Google make safety software for users to use which will help them to monitor what is happening on the computer. ( http://www.google.co.uk/familysafety/ ). Here Fildes, J. writes a report for BBC News on internet safety in primary schools. Lessons in using the internet safely are set to become a compulsory part of the curriculum for primary schoolchildren in England from 2011. Fildes, J. (2009) At the beginning of this campaign to make the lessons compulsory the Priminister at the time, Gordon Brown states "We must ensure that this virtual world is safe for our children just as we try to ensure that the real world is, (Fildes, J. 2009). Every primary school should have a policy in place to make sure that children are safe when using computers and the internet in the school. The above quote shows how important keeping children safe is and the government have backed this by making a proposal to make the lessons compulsory. Internet safety is not only about what children can look at or access but its also about teaching them about giving out personal details and what inf0mation or photographs that they put up onto the internet.

Social Network SitesThere are many different Social Networking Site and they can be easily accessible to children. A few are:

Age Restrictions: Most sites, when you first sign up ask for you to tick a box saying that you are over the age of 16. Through out secondary schools children normally have an account on at least one social networking site before they are 16 years old as it is not hard to tick the box. Personal Information All of the Networking sites have boxes for people to insert personal information such like their names, where they live and their age. This is encouraging people to give out information that they perhaps shouldnt put onto the internet where a lot of people will be able to see it.

The benefits of ICT for children with SENThe use of ICT with children whom have special educational needs (SEN) can be extremely beneficial. There are many programmes that can help to make ICT more accessible for lower ability children. Using computers and ICT can enable children with SEN to access other areas of the curriculum easier as it can give them a visual aid, make writing easier to read or help them with doping their work and allowing them to write/ type. On the other hand the programmes that are available can cost the schools or setting quite a lot of money. Most of the time they are worth it but these programmes may also be beneficial for children without SEN to help them progress to the best of their ability. I would hope that schools and settings are able to get hold of additional programmes such as a reading ruler, something that reads the text out loud and more curriculum linked activities that would help children easier in the future and cheaper. Using ICT with SEN children can help the teacher as well as the pupil as it can give them ideas and different options of activity's that they could do with the children.

Useful Websiteshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/bitesize/this website has lots of different activities, quizzes and information on most subjects in the National Curriculum. It puts across the information in a child friendly manner and can make the subject more interesting and interactive for the children. http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/47761This website has different interactive programmes for most areas that is covered in maths within the National Curriculum. They dont cost and are easy to download and use. http://www.primarygames.com/This website is for educational games. The games are categorised into the different subjects. This website would be good for children at home to practice things that they have learnt at school. http://www.primarygames.co.uk/This website has quite basic maths games on it that are quite basic but are effective with getting the user to practice their maths skills. The good thing about this website is that you can change the level of difficulty for most games which make it good for most abilities.

Annotated BibliographyDfE. (1999) The national Curriculum. [online] Available from: http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/. [accessed 24th April 2011].I used this website to see what the National Curriculum set out for children to do in ICT throughout the primary years. This is a reliable website as it is set out and run by the government and is stating what is already set out and is not the opinion of someone. Fildes, J. (2009) Internet Safety for children targeted. [online] Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8398763.stm. [accessed 2th April 2011]. I used this website because it had a good report done about Internet Safety for the BBC. It backed me up on the point that internet safety is very important within a primary school.

AcknowledgementsHannah Stewardson For helping to create the How to make a Cup of Tea PowerPoint for that PowerPoint session. Sarah Durbin For helping me to catch up with a session that I missed due to illness.Amy Ramsdale For helping to create the Very Hungry Caterpillar book on 2create for the session on creativity and ICT.

Information LiteracySchool Experience (2)Once the children were onto the website for the games I think that this was a really good was to get children involved in and enjoying maths. One child who struggles with his maths and struggled to concentrate in lesson but when he was on the internet he seemed to be really engaged with the games he was completing. I sat with him for a lot of the lesson and you could see a really improvement in his 5 and 3 times tables. This experienced showed the effective use of ICT in subjects across the curriculum and how it engages children that would otherwise not be interested in learning. On the other hand using ICT in every subject may not be as effective as children may get bored with playing games in every lesson.

Reflection continuedI think that children using programmes to handle data will help them as they will learn about different ways of storing information. Also data handling links closely to maths as the children are dealing with numbers and can then sort them or put them into graphs. It can also link with history as you can look at the census and get the children to work out who olives with who, when they were born etc. Whilst using these programmes children will learn and develop skills that they may use in their job when older as many companies use databases to store information and use them regularly.

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Session tenCreativity and ICT continued

2Create was very similar to 2Animaate but it as more for just still pictures. 2Create was a bit more complex allowing you to do more things when drawing the picture.

I think that both of these programme can be helpful when teaching. The teacher is able to use them herself to enhance her lessons. They can be used when reading or telling a story or getting children to understand a play because you can move the images on at whatever speed you want.

I think that these two programmes can be both enjoyable to use and help children with their ICT skills. The tasks that these programmes are used for are quite open so can be used in most subjects across the curriculum. The main subject hat it links with is art as the children have to design and draw the picture on the computer. Through making stories most other subjects can be fed through depending on what the story is based on. HyperlinksBumblebee bookHungry caterpillar book

Session tenCreativity and ICT continued

2CreateHere are is a print screen of the story book I started on 2Create.

2AnimateHere are is a print screen of the animation I created on 2Animate.

Social Network Sites (2)Privacy Settings Each site has different privacy settings which allows the user to make their profile private and not to be able to be seen by anyone but their friends. It is important to encourage anyone to put this as their setting as they know that most of their information is secure.