QTS Q12 – Timothy West

Evaluation of OCR Nationals A06 Databases

By adminPGCE, POT 3, TeachingNo Comments

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

31/05/2011

AB tutor a teaching tool

By adminPGCE, POT 2, TeachingNo Comments

At KES they use a client control piece of software cann AB tutor that is similar to RM tutor. This is a great tool for showing and demonstrating to pupils work that requires fine details. It simple takes over their screens and allows you to show them what is happening on your screen. It is really useful for monitor pupils work and to see what applications they are using. This is a good test to see if they are on task without actually walking around. I have also been using it to display pupils work at the end of the lesson which has been really great for plenary seshions. It really helps give instant feedback to pupils on the work they have created and is a good quick way of formative assesement.

I used ab tutor after i recieved some feedback that pupils couldnt see the screen and needed more feedback on their design work.

Although KES own the software some of the teaching staff do not use if for ICT lesson so i was able to give a seshion on how to best use it after I had become familiar with it myself. This was great for colaborative work and for helping others members of staff to get up to speed with this technology.

25/03/2011

Year 9 – Colaborative Group Project *1

By adminPGCE, POT 2, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

Lesson Reflection Document

Class Year 9s Colaborative Group Project

What we did?

We have started a group project that allows the pupils to come up with an advertising campaign to promote a corn maze or maze maze event. The whole point is that they choose what avenues of advertising they want to use and the programs that can best create these adverts.

So we broke up in to teams of 3-5 and i asked them to find a company name imagining they where the design and advertising team of this event or company.

They then created a document that I had prepared to answer questions such as what types of adverts they were going to use and who in the group was going make this section. I also asked them to think about their audience.

What went well?

I was able to get them split into groups fairly seamlessly this showed good management

I was able to emphasize how each team member needs to have a role to play and be a part of the team working on something constantly. I created the illusion that this was a professional group project but it also encouraged them to stay on task and not be sitting there with nothing to do.

I was able to go around and make sure that each group had an idea of what they were going to do and get some casual formative assessment by talking to the groups.

I was able to get them to email me their advertising campaign plan in order to some feedback to them via email.

I felt by giving them the freedom to do what they want within reason they took more ownership over their work.

The pupils even started making logos and design work on dreamweaver.

I felt i had good pace and kept them on task by setting mini lesson deadlines. I find that 1 hour is slightly longer to teach and the time can be chunked quite nicely

What could have been done better?

Pupils opted to use some of the less professional packages such as Published instead of Photoshop or indesign which meant i had to explain why it was better to use the other programs.

Some of the boys where slightly un motivated to start with so I will have to find things constantly for them to do and watch them but not let the others suffer.

I could have used questioning a little bit more to tease out the different areas of software that more or less effective rather than just telling them.

07/03/2011

Year 8 Website Assessments

By adminPGCE, POT 1, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

For my year 8 Website unit i used a range of assessment strategies

The first step was to use the QCDA national curriculum assessment criteria and amend the criteria so that the Kids know what level they where at.

We then took two revisions of this

Revison 1 = http://bit.ly/h9eb9V

Revision 2 = http://bit.ly/dFMTcN this was so that the kids could understand it better and there where all condensed into one sentence

I worked collaboratively with the ICTAC ICT across the curriculum teacher to amend these for all year 8 teachers.

Prior to my last lesson I arranged for them to do a series of peer assessments to make sure that their websites met the different requirements for them to achieve the highest level possible. Lesson plan here http://bit.ly/hEfz8X

Then for my last assement lesson, lesson plan here http://bit.ly/hbYC3P

Full Reflection on Lesson below

Year 8 Website Assessments

It has come to the end of the module and it is time to mark and assess the year 8 websites they have been makings.

The idea was to get them to prepare a short 2 minute presentation about their website to cover the assessment levels.

How we have done this

They have zipped up their whole folder containing their website and then they submitted this folder to the Joint assessment system so that I could access this through the teacher login.

This submission allowed me to access it for their presentations and viewing later.

Once it was submitted I then asked them to come up to the front with their chairs and gave them some tips on how to present well. These were things like to face the front, speak up, keep it simple, and introduce their website.

I also laid down the ground rules of no talking when someone is talking and no distracting the presenter.

I mentioned that I will be asking them some questions.

? What sort of design theme and colour scheme have your chosen and why?

? How have you made sure that your website is suitable to a range of audiences?

? If you did it again what improvements would you make?

How we did it.

I had to open up the zipped up work through the JAS and then show the website on the screen and at this point the pupil went through the website.

The as they go through it the point was to asses their work straight into the JAS this could be done easily with 2 people but I think would be hard with one person.

So the presentation really gave a good opportunity for the pupil to talk through their work and for you to see their thoughts on how they made it.

Problems

Behaviour wise it’s quite hard to manage them with your back turned to them!

The can sometimes go over board with clapping. A good suggestion from my mentor was to say that if you carry on clapping then you will be held back a minute for every clap that you do. So its almost letting them police it as they not all will want to stay behind. Then if I catch the culprits then I can keep them in.

The lower sets sometimes don’t elaborate enough at the beginning and don’t have a good introduction and jump straight into their classroom.

The good thing about assesimg the pupils through the JAS System is that you can then set objectices to cover the points that have not been covered as well as you would hav liked. The JAS systme allows you to quickly observe handed in work and then offer feedback and say what needs to be improved.

15/12/2010