Over a week ago I was invited by Toucan Computing to give a brief presentation on Felsted’s use of mobile technology at Apple’s European offices in London (just above the Apple Store on regent street). Other schools also discussed their experiences/programmes too and it was interesting to note the high proportion of primary schools seem to be leading the way in using the iPod Touch in the classroom. The one notable exception at the briefing was Essa Academy in Bolton (I will return to them later). A few Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) were also on hand to offer (sometimes very strong) opinions on how they saw mobile learning. Although I found what they said useful, I really wanted an ADE who still worked at a school to voice their opinion. What was clear from the mobile briefing is that a few schools are starting to move away from the ‘office’ dominated view of ICT to one that complements teaching and learning.
On the Friday, I visited Neal Watkin in Ipswich. Neal is an Advanced Skills Teacher in History and over the last year he has been looking at incorporating some of John Hattie’s effect size research into his lessons. What impressed me the most was the collaborative nature of the work; the county advisor (Dale Banham) had brought together a group of ASTs in English and History to come up with the general principles for the project and as a result, it had been tested in a variety of schools. Neal has managed to bring the latest research on teaching and learning into the classroom and and gained support from a variety of quarters. I look forward to the presentation of the results at next year’s Schools History Project Conference.
On the following Monday, I went to visit The Bishop Stortford High School, courtesy of the incoming Head of Sixth Form, Tom Capewell. Tom organised a great series of observations and I was most struck most by the English lesson I saw taught by Nick Patterson, the subject leader for English. He had the boys get to grips with the poetry of Blake and Wordsworth on London and used a great strategy to get them to compare the poems in a table using only one word to describe each poem, giving a clear structure of points to would later be used to write an essay. I thought this was inspired and will have to adopt this method in my use of source work next year. I also spent a a good amount of time talking to the Head of ICT about their use of the iPod Touch next year. They are asking every parent of the incoming Year 7 to buy one so they can use it as a personal organiser and web device for work. The school is in an affluent area and many of the students already have an iPod Touch so this seems sensible to me, especially when the students have access to the latest technology and schools are always playing catch-up.
I then made my way to Bolton with the Head of Classics to see the work of Essa Academy and Abdul Chohan. Achievement had previously lurking around the 20-30% pass rate for 5 GCSEs including Maths and English but projections show an incredible upsurge and they are looking forward to August. The work at Essa covers many areas but the one aspect they have gained attention for is by giving each student an iPod Touch. This has had a dramatic effect in terms of student organisation and curriculum delivery in particular as the school has subscribed to a company providing podcasts covering all GCSE subjects so learning can happen anywhere. After spending the morning there, it was very clear that this is a school going places. The innovative approach to teaching and learning at Essa is remarkable. One aspect was teaching Year 7 in ‘pods’ of 40 under the watchful gaze of a secondary specialist, a primary specialist and a teaching assistant as they go through different topics to enhance their basic skills. Another was the novel approach to giving students a broad education by giving them the ability to change subjects every 6 months (everyone would study the core of English, Maths and Science but the other subjects did not have to be a full GCSE in a particular topic although they could choose this).
After leaving Essa, we went to visit Heathfields, a local primary school. Dianne Spencer (the Head) and David Mitchell (the Deputy Head) kindly showed us around and some of the work of the students. I was very impressed with the extended writing one young lady; her use of connectives through the VCOP method made me rethink how I get students at secondary level to write essays. Continuing the primary theme, I visited Flitch Green Primary School on the following day to teach a lesson to Saturn Class on the Vikings with Chronology as the key conceptual focus. Flitch Green is also an Apple Regional Training Centre and the use of technology to support learning is something to behold. In preparation for the lesson, I visited the school a week before and I saw some wonderful animation work with strong narratives which sparked the use of Ian Dawson’s work on active learning in History. The pupils and I worked together to construct a narrative of the Vikings as part of the History they had studied. This worked really well especially as the tabards they wore gave them a nice visual and physical reference of the overlaps between the Romans and the Saxons. I then got them to sequence a series of pictures by telling them a brief history of the Vikings which seemed to work well. What I did not expect was the lovely messages and feedback about the lesson from the pupils. I would like to thank Katie Coburn for allowing me to hijack her class for the morning!
Feedback from Saturn Class using Wallwisher on the Viking lesson
So, after all this wandering and wondering, what have I learned? There are a lot of people, both primary and secondary, who are also ‘travelling without maps’ in terms of curriculum design, lesson planning, pastoral care and the thinking about the environment students work in. What guides them in this creative uncertainty is the conviction that the children in their care deserve their best. I am very grateful that they have allowed me to share in their journey.
Front image: half alive@Flickr.com
