May 2011

Over the last term I have been teaching a series of lesson bassed on the ICT OCR Nationals syllabus. The syllabus is broken down into 6 modules and the pupils have to complete each module at pass level in order to get what is equivalent to half a GCSE.

I have been specifically teaching them the AO6 Databases module over the last 7 weeks.

Please see my medium term plan here >> http://bit.ly/lewvPv

The challenge with this unit was to make it interesting and engaging for the pupils. Databases can be a bland topic to teach as it is quite a formal and rigid skill that does not allow for much creativity. The easiest way I found to make it interesting was to try and choose a topic that allowed them to engage with the program. As a department we came up with an idea for the pupils to create a music festival and to allow the pupils to choose the types of bands that they would like to perform. This allowed the pupils to create the tables in the database with information that was relevant to them.

Each skill needed to be chunked into small tasks as at times the pupils got lost when doing the long processes of creating queries and reports. It was also important to explain why they would do certain tasks in the program so that they could see the benefit of using an automated program like this.

I found the use of the powerpoint template was helpful to scaffold the pupils work and give them direction however after a while the pupils lost interest and became obviously quite bored with the process of combing in again and again and gathering screen shots for each skill they have shown and annotating it. In the future i will try and find more activities that allow them to do the work quicker and more independently. To give time  allow for more creative teaching.

After we had finished this i was able to collect the work through the automated Joint assessment system program and I am currently in the process of marking it to give pupils feed back.

>> powerpoint template = http://bit.ly/iwZw8P

Resources >> http://bit.ly/kncUqQ

Lesson Plan >> http://bit.ly/kncUqQ

What went well?

In this lesson pupils where given a good opportunity to practice their numeracy skills by using their research to fill in a finances spread sheet in Excel. They where able to practice doing formular such as sum functions and simple adding up formular they als learnt how to do percentage. This was all worked into a scafolded spreadsheet as the pupils where of a low ability.

Pupils learn the importance of creating finances and the reason why they do it. There where some good responses saying why they though so during times of questioning.

I was able to challenge the pupils by asking them to try an figure out certain formular without any guided teaching.

What could have been done better.

Some of the items on the spread sheet where not included in the list of items they could produce making it hard for them fill the spread sheet out completely

Some pupils needed to be encouraged to get a move on with their work and needed a few warnings given.

I could have made the introduction to the spreadsheet more interesting and engaging to grab the pupils attention.

Lesson Plan >> http://bit.ly/lGW8cs

In this lesson i was really trying to make personalized provision for SEN Pupils

What went well.

• most pupils where able to have a sub system created for a pelican flow chart so the objectives where completed
• pupils learnt more about how to create flow charts and see the effect of this in action
• I was able to give them a solution to work of in order to aid the less able ones with their working

What could have been done better.

• I would hav liked to prepare a flow chart without the do procedure so that pupils could see why it is a good idea to use procedures to save time and energy
• I still need to work on chunking this up for the lesser able pupils even further
• I made good preparation for the the TA so that they knew what to do and what to help with this lesson

All in all i really was needing to make sure that each step was explained verry carefully i found that if pupils did not understand it i needed to be gentle with them and not get frustrated. I also found that the Use of a helper was really important in the management of the lesser able pupils. It was important that the squeaky wheels did not get all the grease from me.

For the 4 pupils that did not create the flow chart completely I issued a lunch time detention that I later had to sell as a session to help them improve their learning and to get them caught up to speed with the rest of the class. It was a fine line for some of the pupils who where taking advantage of their and not putting in the effort needed. It was good tho to get them all up to scratch as this really help these SEN pupils progress.

What i really learnt from this lesson is that it is incredibly important to keep the lower ability pupils self esteem up and not get frustrated with them but not to allow them to just use it as an excuse.

I also have had to follow up on a SEN pupils progress with the tutor and ask them to please back me in the importance to get work completed during the lesson. This pupil needs to be constantly watch as there are some social, home and behavioural issues that are affecting his work progress. It has been a good start to get the tutor involved.

Please see Email Evidence to support this.Q18 Email Evidence of supporting a pupil

Using Local and National statisitical data in my teaching

I have been looking at how pupils at GCSE perform in ICT over this year. I have noticed that there is a trend that boys tend to under perform in the course work related subjects of which one is the GCSE OCR national’s option.

According to the article from the bbc below it indicates how boys are under achieving. I also have had a look at the results from my home school http://bit.ly/mPy6DD

Gender gap

 

Boys continue to lag behind girls in most subjects, a trend of more than two decades.

The gender gap was at its widest in the early 2000s for A*-Cs, and in the middle of the decade for A*-As.

Explanations for the gap vary, although it is widely thought that girls perform better than boys in continued assessment and coursework. Other reasons given for the gap in GCSE performance are maturity and motivation.

However, a higher percentage of boys get A and A* grades in economics and additional maths than of girls. Boys also pulled ahead of girls at these top grades in maths last year, and in physics at A grade – and managed to maintain the edge in both in 2010.

The main solution to tackle boys under achieving is to chunk and segment coursework into manageable tasks that can be achieved each lesson one by one. We have been creating out OCR nationals work with small slides that each pupil can complete each lesson and I have been implementing this in my year 9 teaching of databases.

I have personally seen how this really works well for in class activities however it is tough when pupils don’t completed all the work that they need to do in lesson as this as ramifications later on in term as areas can depend on other areas.

Please see my POT 3 TEACHING for YEar 9