IWB activities using SMART Notebook

SMART Notebook can be used to create a range of interactive learning activities. The activities that have been shown in the screen shots have been differentiated and also differ in the nature of the tasks and the responses required from the children. These two activities demonstrate a few of the different ways this software can be used to engage and involve the children in a more participate and interactive way in whole-class discussions/learning opportunities.

Tux Paint

I thought Tux Paint was a much better version of paint, with many more features and much better results possible. This would be ideal for children of all ages though the obvious initial guidance and practise is required, but very quickly, even the youngest of children will get used to this easy to navigate programme, comprising of large, clear buttons, and a variety of tools to support the children e.g. stamps, backgrounds, paintbrushes etc. Most importantly, this programme is also free to download and install, and the number of downloads are unlimited, therefore schools have no excuse to not having this software installed on all their computers!

Can texttease be used effectively in the classroom?

Textease Publisher CT is the award-winning, word processing, desktop publishing package with multimedia capabilities all in one.

Texttease consists of 9 core software tools. The one I trialled and used to create various nature themed pages was Textease Publisher CT.
Features of this programme include:

• curriculum mapped resources - thousands of items
including clipart, digital photos and videos
• natural sounding speech with different voices to
choose from
• highlighter and table tool
• toolbars that can flip to the bottom of the screen -
great for whiteboard use
• cross-curricular examples
• templates including a birthday card, book review,
newspaper, heraldry shield and postcard

Publisher CT can be used within all curriculum subjects for every writing and publishing task. Menus and buttons can be configured and customised for pupils with different educational needs allowing them to continue working at the peak of their ability. It is an ideal tool for encouraging creativity and motivation.

However, I did not find this tool that easy to use. This may largely be due to the fact that it is new and unfamiliar software to me. I found it difficult to navigate and familiarise myself with; this, I'm sure, is a similar feeling that children feel when they are learning to use a new bit of software that I now use very confidently, e.g. microsoft office. Despite my unfamiliarity with this program, I feel that other programs do a similar job and are easier to use e.g. Promethian.

Clickr as a tool to support pupils

Clickr is a writing support and multimedia tool for children of all abilities and people with special needs. It consists primarily of two main components:
- Clickr Writer: a talking word processor, which can be used with or without pictures.

- Clickr Grids: A clickr grid usually fits into the bottom of the screen. It is made up of cells which can contain letters, words, phrases, pictues and sounds.

This tool is great for aiding children with weak literacy skills and also all young children that require guidance structuring sentences. The tool incorporates strong visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles.

The children can use this tool to create story boards or even longer passages of writing over time.

Computer Games, School and Young People

A number of relevant publications show that games are a pursuasive medium with the capacity to influence players' thoughts and actions. Games are constructionist technologies for learning; as believed in constructivist views of teaching, children learn best through constructing ideas and knowledge though activities alongside others. Games are viewed as ideal platforms for trying out ideas, making decisions, communicating with others and of exploring and making new games rather than by receiving knowledge passively from others. Games are also ideal environments for practising skills.

The learning involved through games:
- can be considered to be social as it involved interactions with objects/figures within the game/on screen.
- is active and participative rather than passive and merely receptive.
- and involves the constant construction of meaning and knowledge.

Most teacher's agree that computer games can support children's cognitive development and ICT development and higher order thinking skills (e.e. logical thinking, planning and strategising.)

Developing Ideas Through Images

A digital camera can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes that can stimulate and engage the children in a novel manner.

A digital camera can be used to capture the right image for just the right visual stimulus that can kick start a disucssion on a new topic, e.g. an image from nature/buildings/settings to stimulate discussion in geography/RE/PSHCE etc.

Digital cameras are an excellent way of supporting children with EAL (English as an Additional Language), learning difficulties, poor written and or communication skills, when out on school trips or when carrying out investigations. They can be used to record and communicate observations made, or to take a picture of equipment used, as alternatives to making written and drawn records.

Again, if a video feature is available on the digital cameras then children can be encouraged to make videos of their thoughts, feelings and discussions about a given topic. Still photos can also support children's communication of ideas.

Giving different children responsibility of the camera will boost their self-esteem, through giving them a valued, prime role. It will also give them a boost to see their handiwork used and appreciated.

Digital cameras can be used to capture freeze-frames; this can make links across a number of subjects, e.g. ICT, drama, literacy, RE, PSHCE etc.
Children can be encouraged to act out a scene studied/which they think best portrays a situation/emotion. This whole process will involve a number of skills including the development of team work, negotiation skills, ICT skills.

Images collected by digital cameras can be a very important and welcome link with school and home. Parents can get a better insight into what the children have been involved with and how they may have participated. This again will be particularly useful when communicating to adults with EAL.

The general production, handling and manipulation of the images requires the children to develop a number of skills including: opening, inserting, rotating, cropping, copying, pasting and so on. This will lead on to the development of higher level skills which the children will continue to build upon throughout their education and own experiences of ICT.