kieranhogg.com blog

I’m delivering an INSET session soon on technology in the classroom and I’m focusing on websites that are useful for lessons. Some of these are fairly well-known now but it’s being delivered mostly to non-ICT specialists so I’m afforded that luxury.

Prezi

Probably the most well known, Prezi is a flash-based alternative to the dreaded Powerpoint. It makes use of an ZUI which creates pleasing visual transitions which is good for keeping interest and doing cooler things than Powerpoint affords.

Wallwisher

Wallwisher is a virtual noticeboard where you can add post-its. It’s great for plenaries and anywhere you need to get feedback from students without breaking out whiteboards or bits of paper. It’s also really convenient as you can check it at a later date. As below, they are available to embed so you can embed them on your website or VLE.

ClassDojo

This is my newest discovery, ClassDojo. It’s currently in Beta but that pretend kind, not the kind where it’s full of bugs. It’s a Behaviour for Learning tool where each student gets their own avatar (a point of contention as some boys will inevitably get pink ones and changing requires paying) and they get points based on positive or negative aspects of their behaviour. Example positive actions are participation and helping others, example negative actions are disruption and late. One of the nice features is that these are configurable. It also has an mobile version to use on your phone as you’re presumably walking around the classroom but it doesn’t want to load for me on Android and it’s probably quicker to walk to me desk than get my phone out.

I’ve so far used this to good effect with a Y8 class and less so with a Y10 class predictably. It’s hard to say whether the eagerness to see their monster gain points would only be temporary but nevertheless it’s a really cool little website to try out.

DROPitTOme

This is my favourite site currently, but probably likely to be sensitively omitted from the INSET due to it competing with the Academy’s VLE. It’s a really simple website, it’s a front-end to your Dropbox account that lets people upload files into your Dropbox. There’s nothing I’ve used so far that can match the work flow of having students upload files with no hassle and have them arrive on my home computer when I start it up.

A notable mention goes to Google Docs and Mediawiki for collaborative document editing and creating wikis respectively but despite both being awesome, the premise of both is really simple and no explanation necessary if you’ve used them at all.

I think that’s all for now as I’m only supposed to fill 30 minutes but I may add more if any come to mind.

For the first week back from half-term, the entire school is off timetable and students got to choose 2 and 3 day sessions that each teacher had proposed themselves. I’ll probably add another post on this idea as it has been great so far. One of my sessions I proposed was creating mobile phone apps with App Inventor for Android.

App Inventor Main Interface

Firstly and foremost, what an excellent piece of software. When I first came across it – a good time after owning a phone and becoming a teacher – I literally couldn’t believe that it existed and I hadn’t heard of it. I’m sure the much-repressed developer in me would probably turn its nose up at a GUI interface for producing software but the educator in me thinks it’s amazing. For literally anyone to be able to drag a few components onto the screen and to convert to an .apk which can be loaded onto a phone is a million miles away from the usual developer-far to produce a binary. For comparison, it’s almost identical to Scratch except it’s for general phone apps not just games and it has a built-in phone emulator (it’s no great surprise that MIT have appropriated the newly open-sourced App Inventor).

Starting from the beginning, the setup was less than hassle-free I must admit. School computer systems are notoriously locked down and even after the required software was installed I ran into problems. It seems a good point to explain the components of the software: there’s a website for the GUI, a java app for the blocks editor (code) and an installed .exe for the phone emulator. The problem came with the firewall blocking the blocks editor talking to the emulator. It was eventually resolved but we did suffer from random crashes, no fault of the software I would imagine, but just something to bear in mind and plan for next time.

Once it was up and running though, the students were quick to engage with the GUI part of draggning components onto the screen, and the emulator loading the app onto a phone was a real ‘wow’ moment for them.

Emulator

The rest of the session was very similar to how a Scratch lesson goes in terms of pros and cons.

• The students were good at using tutorials to adapt into their ideas
• The students have over-ambitious ideas so it’s important to say what can and can’t be done.
• They ask a lot of questions so you need to be fairly proficient in the software
• The students struggle with the code part (no suprise) but most get the general idea suprisingly quick and just need correction to keep on the right track
• Getting their software onto a real phone is really rewarding (again permission problems prevented this going completely smoothly)
• There’s no way of creating more than one screen (one of most common questions), it can be done with showing and hiding ScreenArrangements but it’s not ideal

Despite the technical hiccups and teething problems, I thought it was an excellent session and I’d definitely do it again with a bit more structure around it, knowing everything would work slightly better next time! Underneath are a few examples of the apps they made, bear in mind, they were done in around 2 hours!

Predictably, updates have been sparse over my NQT year. It’s almost finished now, only 7 weeks before the glorious summer holidays. It’s fair to say I’ve learnt an awful lot over the last year, too much to digest and summarise I feel, but should my half-term spare a few minutes I might try.

I will be staying at my current school for the next year and I’ve already started my Masters, focusing on Innovative Technology in the Classroom. I never thought I’d be doing any more essays after my PGCE but then I said that after my degree. Hopefully I’ll be doing some interesting stuff as part of the MA which should make for exciting lessons and research areas.

Something which has partially happened at my school, and more noticeably at others, is the shift away from the importance of ICT as a subject, a topic which I have mixed views on (a qualified one from Steve Wheeler). I’m still gathering my ideas however, before fully committing anything to (digital) paper.

This is my review of the Ramesys Assimilate VLE. I’ve used this for the past few months, fairly heavily being an ICT teacher so I thought I’d post my thoughts on it. I should prefix this by saying on the whole, it’s not terrible, but there are some glaring bugs/usability flaws that would help improve the product immeasurably. I must also say that as a user, I am unsure how many of these items could be solved or improved by the configuration of the installation.

It’s also useful to remember at this point that more than half of the target audience is children.

Frames

My primary annoyance with Assimilate. Frames arguably do have a use in websites, but this is not one of them, for any of these reasons, see the image for a prime example of when frames are not needed. In a more practical way: “Ooh, this looks interesting” *opens in new tab*, “strange, the menu bar has disappeared. Never mind, I’ll just continue using this page. Hang on! All the links are opening in my previous page!”.

It’s fairly easy to work-around this behaviour but the use of frames and target= breaks how an internet site should work, not cool.

Assimilate's terrible use of frames

Dynamic Content

This is a generic problem, and it seems to be that the general UI could be enhanced by the increased use of AJAX, the creation of a test for example requires about 6 steps before you’re even ready to enter a question, with a page load for each action. Which leads me on to…

Uploading files

File submission is one of the key aspects of the VLE and something which seems very clunky. Although there’s options to upload SCORM content and a zip file, there’s no way of just uploading a couple of files without zipping them or doing the process over again after each one. The upload page is one of the key places some AJAX would go a long way.

Displaying Communities

The method of displaying communities (which I find confusing by using a <select>, simple hyperlinked navigation would make more sense) is even more confusing when it displays ‘A to Z’ despite not showing all the communities, you have to notice that it’s only actually showing ‘A to G’, a mistake which I’ve seem students and teachers alike making.

Inconsistent community display labeling

Search

For some reason, the search feature only seems to search items that you have entered matching keywords for. This functionality isn’t explain either on the search page of the keywords page. In fact, the compulsory nature of the keywords has made staff enter anything for this field in order to speed up creating items which leaves search essentially useless. I would expect to be able to find by searching a community’s name at least.

Tables for Layout

Whilst divs are used throughout the site, tables are used frequently to create the content boxes seen throughout the site. Not only could these but done effectively using divs and CSS, the argument for not using tables for layout has been done to death.

Confusing Permissions Page

On the whole, the pages aren’t that badly designed but the exception however being the permissions page.

When I click to add a user to a community, the last step is to select a role, this is not clear if you need to select a role to find the person, or to add the person. It implies the role is associated with the finding, which is isn’t.

But I can't use this yet?!

Following on the from the last point, once I have found the user, I then have to select them, then choose the role, then click add users. Considering how fond of putting processes across several pages Assimilate is, it seems odd to cram everything into the same space and lay it out in the opposite order to the way you are required to click on the elements.

This is backwards!

Curiosity usually gets the better of me, so despire there being no indication of what a new condition was, I tried it anyway.

Permission Condition

No such luck.

Oops

No Notifications

It goes without saying that Teacher’s are very busy. However the only way to check if your students have taken a test or uploaded a file is to constantly check the community which seems a great way to waste time and miss student work.

Default Content Page

There’s no way to set a default document or web page as the first page loaded when the community is clicked on. Obviously intentional but the front page is lacking is customisability. An interesting workaround is to add some javascript into the community description box which redirects to the document of your choice. Whilst being very useful, it’s a tad worrying that the input isn’t sanitised of javascript. I presume the counter argument would be that the managers, i.e. the teachers are trusted, but still unsafe that it is allowed.

Use of full names

This is a tiny cosmetic thing, but there’s no way to change your display name. Some Teachers don’t mind students knowing their first name, some do, the choice is nice however.

Timeout

Most lessons are at least 50 minutes, yet you get timed out after 25. Even though there is a facility to extend it, that assumes you’re actually at the computer and not teaching.

Reading this back, it sounds a lot more harsh than my actual experience of it. Generally, the product isn’t deeply flawed in the way some VLEs are, but the interface definitely prevents me from using it effectively.

I’ve reached the glorious milestone that is half-term, reasonably unharmed, if not very tired. I had hoped to post slightly earlier but even if time was allowing, motivation was not.

The first term is always said to be the toughest for the NQT, so being half-way through that is reassuring. The changes from the PGCE are innumerable, some obvious, some less so.

• Being a form tutor – whilst most probably have had some responsibility/attachment to a form prior, the extra step of being responsible for your own form is both rewarding and another thing to think about. Now the first half-term is done, I think it’s time to look past the obvious in terms of form time activities. This is a fairly large area which I would need more space to do justice to.
• Workload – this is a catch-all that contains such delightful things as email, meetings, deadlines, reports, coursework and much more. To state the obvious, it’s much more than in PGCE year, and my previous tips for that year of organisation and staying on top of everything have never been more true.
• Being better – in the PGCE year your main focus was getting through lessons and observation unscathed, recently I’ve been spending a lot of time on how best to engage students but also how to help them learn more. I’m hoping to come up with a few strategies to try in some of my more difficult classes and report back here.

A frustratingly generic post yet again but sadly the specifics of the past 7 weeks seem to have escaped me. I’m striving to experiment more with my teaching and learning in the near future in order for there to be relevant content; a ramble better suited to a personal diary seems less than useful.

Being an ICT teacher, I have some interesting thoughts to include in that area, from VLEs to technologies which I will be working on over the coming weeks.

Graduation Cap Cupcake by clevercupcakes BY-NC-ND

It’s been a long time coming (no thanks to me forgetting to renew my domain) but I’ve finally sat down to write the last of the PGCE posts.

I officially qualified as a teacher at the end of June which was definitely one of the most relieving and proud moments. The year was a long tiring one but it certainly went quickly. Looking back on the whole year, there were points of great tiredness and workload but on the whole it’s not something that should put off potential trainees, it’s definitely worth it.

I’d love to give out some golden nuggets of advice for PGCE students but I think everyone copes in their own ways. The only thing I’d do differently if I had the year again would be to push myself in school a bit more and keep on top of the paperwork better. But as I’ve said previously, it really is a case of doing what you need to do to get through the year.

Moving forward, I joined my new school for the last three weeks of term, which is a fairly new Academy. It’s nice to be in an environment which removes most of the stress of working with computers, although it’s never that simple. From all accounts the Academy expects – quite rightly – a lot of the staff so I’m in for a busy NQT year, so I’m making the most of my summer!

I’ve a few interesting ideas to try for next year which if they are successful, and probably if they aren’t, I’ll write about on here.

Enjoy the summer!

As a filler until I get chance to write another decent post, here are a few question that people want to know the answer to.

Is it just pass or fail at PGCE?

Yes. The only difference between any student completing their PGCE is their reference given. Teaching and work is marked on the OFSTED scale (1-4) but this grade does follow you out of the course.

Is it hard to pass PGCE?

A difficult question to answer. If teaching is for you, no. If you are prepared to work, no. Is it hard to be a good teacher? Yes, but no-one said it would be!

Will teaching job be offered on interview day?

Yes. You can normally ask for up to 24 hours to discuss with family etc., but this is a courtesy and they are entitled to say no; if you’re not sure you want or can take the job, you shouldn’t be there.

Who is the interview panel for teaching jobs?

Again, this varies with school and position. For an NQT role, you would expect to see a line-manager at the minimum, and usually a member of SLT or other Head of Department, and sometimes the Headteacher. A lot of schools will expect you to face a panel of students too. It’s rare to have a Governor on the panel until you get to an SLT-level job.

Are you allowed time off for interviews in a teaching job?

You are allowed “reasonable” time off for interviews, this will be unpaid.

What to do in your last PGCE lesson?

If you are feeling brave, you could let your students complete a questionnaire on your performance over the placement to (hopefully) gain an insight into your strengths and weaknesses from their point of view.

The dust has settled on the last few weeks of excitement so it seems an appropriate point to update.

The two big events were the Monitoring and Assessment assignment, the final 5,000 word bit of work and my final University observation. The former was pretty hectic and my hatred of long essays is well documented. Despite this, it was actually one of the most beneficial bits of work in terms of professional development; the research into assessment was actually really useful. I was pleased I got it finished and actually got some sleep before the hand-in but as ever I wish it was a little better. As with everything on the PGCE though, it’s about getting the time/result balance: there’s no point not sleeping for a week to get a Grade 1 only for you to be a wreck in school.

The following day was my final observation from University. I’m not sure whether my lack of nerves was still due to being on a come-down from the M&A hand-in or just the fact I’ve had so many observations now it seems second nature. No matter which, it went as well as I could expect, gaining praise in particular from an area of my teaching which I consider something I need to work on so that was all I needed to feel like I’ve made progress.

I think that last sentence does sum up the PGCE year. There will be very few trainees (myself not included) that are natural teachers and by the end of the course are rated Outstanding, but that’s not to say the rest are bad teachers (although again, there will be some!). The key to being a good trainee in my humble opinion is all about reflection, taking advice and acting on it. I’ve been teaching for what seems like a good chunk of a year but in terms of actual hours, not really that many, especially compraed to that teacher who’s giving you feedback who has been teaching for longer than you’ve been out of nappies.

If you are capable of realising where a lesson was bad and how you could avoid it in the future, I believe you are on the way to being a good teacher. Good teachers are not born, they just learn from their mistakes quicker than everyone else.

A fundamental skill in the teacher’s arsenal, and one that seems effortless to the casual observer, is in fact the result of various iterations of trial and error. I’ve seen and practised a few variations which I explain below. These are from the ICT point of view which assumes students are facing away from you which obviously makes it slightly more challenging. I’ll update the post if I come across any new ones.

Request and named follow-up

• Issue a polite request for quiet: “Thanks everyone”, perhaps accompanied by a clap if particularly noisy
• Identify a few usual noisy students and add: “Thanks James… Thanks Simon… Thanks Sarah…”
• The students addressed will stop talking and the class will hopefully follow suit to avoid being named

I first saw this done by a teacher with a great deal of respect and presence, which are beneficial to the technique working. The downsides are it takes a bit longer than the others but it’s very low key and controlled and if you can master it you will probably save your heart and voice a fair bit of damage!

Three calls

• “First call for quiet”, “Second call for quiet”, “Third and final call for quiet”

A fairly simple technique which works pretty well. Designed to be used with a strike system (as below). After a while, students will get used to paying attention from the first request.

Shout and wait

• “Quiet please!”
• Stand, wait and stare

This usually only works if you have either an exceptionally loud voice or a massive presence, if students don’t respond to the first request, you run the risk of begging for quiet.

Three Strikes

• <Student continues talking>
• “Okay Joe, you’re talking after I’ve requested you stop, that’s your first strike; three and it’s a detention”

Whilst not a method in itself, it’s pretty effective when used in conjunction with others. Detention can be replaced with a smaller sanction such as loss of privileges, extra minutes after the lesson etc. Students tend to work well when on their second strike, for obvious reasons!

Yet another large gap since the last PGCE post, oh dear. Easter break came and went; it was split equally between doing absolutely nothing and panic-working after doing nothing. The following graphic (shamefully stolen from a Uni presentation) shows the “pressure points” of the PGCE year, the second trough being the Easter break.

PGCE Presure Points

I wish I had a better memory to enable me to remember things which would actually be useful to write about, the only thing that springs to mind recently is behaviour management.

As a teacher, behaviour management is a massive – some might say primary – area of learning and practise. As a trainee, it’s no less important, and probably more difficult. The infamous “don’t smile before Christmas” piece of advice for trainees/NQTs has its foundations in reality but obviously needs to be taken with a JCB-load full of salt.

No trainee wants to be a strict teacher, we all remember that teacher at school: always yelling and popping veins, dead poet’s society they were not. What we also forget is the teachers we thought were cool and fun, probably were also firm when they needed to be; there’s being strict and there’s being fair and consistent.

As a trainee, you’re (probably) young, you’re new to the school and if the students have their wits about them, they probably realise the fact another teacher is in the room means you’re not a proper teacher. For all of these reasons, it’s important that you aren’t identified as a pushover. It’s important to separate your personality (e.g. happy, serious, loud, quiet) from your behaviour management.

Now I’m not professing any great skill in this area, indeed the fact that the topic is fresh in my mind is it’s my main area of development right now, but it seems to me that you have to be clear about your expectations and be consistent in the application of those. If I ever discover the magic method I’ll be sure to let everyone know!