QTS Q25b – Timothy West

Year 13 Revision Lessons & Exam Prep

By adminPGCE, POT 3, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

Over the last 5 weeks I have had the opportunity to get some experience with year 13 KS5 computing lessons.

This has been a steep learning curve for me and I have seen how complex a topic this is.

The main area that we have been working on is Internet security.

Please see this Lesson plan http://bit.ly/mQ4HgO and this PowerPoint http://bit.ly/iRSE1i to observe what I did in this lesson.

For these lessons I only had two pupils so I really tried to make sure that they it was setup like a tutoring session rather than a lecture. This I achieved by just sitting with the pupils either side of me. I was also able to show them a few not taking tools and barnstorming applications such as bubl.us.

We went the various aspects of networks and how they can be protected with firewalls I asked them to sod some research to see what firewalls where available. I also asked them how they thought antivirus programs worked and what the virus vault was. It was good to talk to them about their experiences with antivirus software and to compare this to macs.

I also then went onto teaching some revision lessons where we were looking at a past paper. These lessons where fairly simple as it was just to ask the pupils to get on with the paper. Please see my Lesson plans for what I did.

The main observation was that the pupils need to understand the concepts clearly and be concise with their answers in orders to achieve all the marks. It was really useful to use the mark scheme to get what was exactly needed it also showed the pupils what the examiners wanted.

It’s a hard task to get them to understand the concepts and not just teach to the test. At A-Level most of the questions do require pupils to understand what is actually going on so it does balance the scales I feel.

24/05/2011

Evaluation of the Apprentice Year 8 Unit

By adminPGCE, POT 3, Reflection, Teaching124 Comments

Evaluation of Year 8 Apprentice Unit

Over the last 5 weeks I have been teaching Year 8 a new module that I have created a medium term plan for. This unit has been called the Apprentice unit. The main concept for the project is to come up with a product that they can sell to pupils at their school. The product needs to be small and affordable with the average pocket money that pupils have per week.

To start with I asked the pupils to think about what sort of people they are targeting and what sort of products they might like. I gave them some clues to get them started with the product one of which was a usb lipstick product that could sell to females.

Above is an example of how I designed a simple poduct in firework and then asked them to create a similar sketch for their product. This particular idea really gave them the chance to be creative with their product. It was important that they undertook this task so that they could have an idea of what the product would consist of for the production phase. This lesson worked particularly well with some fantastic produces being produced.

They also had to think about how they would brand their product and come up with a logo. This was a good chance again to use the program fireworks to design it. It was important to give them a few examples of different logos and take them through the program in steps otherwise the pupils forgot it by the time they had a go.

Finally the pupils had to go through and sort out the finances of the product to figure out how much money they intend to make. This needed to be done with an element of competition.

At the end of this unit the pupils will be assessed via a presentation and they will have to present their PowerPoint that they have collated their research in and pitch it as if they where in a boardroom.

All in all this was a great project that is suited for an end of year project to consolidate a series of skills .

Please see this folder for all the resources files and folders. http://bit.ly/ivXjSw

21/05/2011

Year 8s After effects lesson 4

By adminPGCE, POT 2, Reflection, Teaching125 Comments

Class

Year 8

What we did?

Please see lesson plan for full details.

The main objectives and purpose of this lesson was to ask pupils to use Adobe After Effects to create a short video clip to advertise the activities week at school. It was to mainly focus on the use of special effects and building up the video in a manner that looked effective creative and appealing.

What went well?

I was able to explain the initial part of the lesson with ease with in my time frame in the plan.

Pupils responded well to selective questioning rather than hands up. The questions were a good process of reviewing previous lessons.

The general working atmosphere was purposeful safe as I used a quiet tone to keep the mood of the lesson quiet. It is interesting how if you are quiet in your delivery the lesson atmosphere is quiet.

The creativity and experimentation was fantastic as they were using the special effects. It was great to see them really explore their creativity and try out different effects and apply them to their videos

I found that when an issue came up again and again I was able to pause what they were doing and address this issue head on.

I found my monitoring and feedback to individual pupils was effective simply by just viewing what was happening on their screens and patrolling around the classroom.

I initially did not show enough detail when demonstrating the various parts of the screen but when i placed an example of it up on the screen it was easier to see what was going on.

What could have been done better?

I really need to work on my timings at the end of the lesson and will be making sure that I have the end of the lesson time noted down and memorized in my head as I thought I had 5 minutes before the end of the lesson but I didn’t.

I found that a few pupils needed to be watched and I was slow to react to them and meet their needs with the harder parts of after effects.

I could have possibly planned my intervention times better as they were a bit ad hoc.

I am still needing to learn names in a better manner.

24/03/2011

Year 7 Photoshop lesson 3

By adminPOT 2, Reflection, Teaching125 Comments

Class Year 7

What we did? please see lesson plan.

Our main focus this week was to use the clone stamp tool to clone away a ball from a sports image.

We used two techniques the clone stamp tool and just simple copying the surrounding texture and pasting it over the ball.

We also looked at how to insert text into an image.

What went well?

The delivery at the beginning varied slightly but I was able to show them various tools as a recap that helped re enforce their prior learning

They were on task getting on at a rapid pace. I had to make sure they had completed each section before they moved on

I managed the questioning well and tried to use a series of visual demonstration using my hands.

After a bit of feedback from my mentor I used an acetate and solid colour paper to explain how layers can allow you to edit across a multiple layers to preserve the file.

I was able to get the pupils up the front and play the spot the ball game to be actively involved with reviewing and assessing the pupils work.

The pupils enjoyed searching for their own images on the internet and it was a good motivator to get through the controlled given images.

What could have been done better?

I found that i needed to keep things going fast as i had the pupils up at the front for a bit to long and the demonstration can go in one ear and out the other ear.

I found that depending on the time of day the pupils are more or less responsive so I need to have reaslistic targets for the different classes i teacher at different times of the day.

I feel that sometimes in my behaviour management i try and justify everything i say and reason with the pupils but this does not have the greatest effect.

All in all another good series of lessons. I was pleased with the response with the work that was created.

16/03/2011

Photoshop lesson 2 – Year 7

By adminPGCE, POT 2, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

Lesson Reflection Document

Class Year 7

What we did?

We were creating an Elvis at the Abbey project with a pop theme to it.

Lesson 2 was all about working and making tweaks to the sky using a gradient tool on Photoshop.

Please look at attached lesson plan

What went well?

It was great to see that the pupils where using their inner creativity to create some really good-looking items of work.

They where able to grasp the points that I needed to re-enforce through questioning

I made sure the chairs where set out as they came in as it really helped the pupils focus and be really quiet for the introduction. I have noticed how when I don’t do this it is slightly more chaotic and hard to get through the introduction well

I was able to introduce AB tutor well to the classes at first I found that they where really excited about the whole concept but if I just did it and asked them to put their hands of their laps it stopped that initial excitement. The AB tutor really helped with the finer details that I had to explain with for example the new layer creation and add to selection tool box.

The time at the end of the lesson was a good time to show of the pupils work and give constructive criticism.

I found I was able to be more confident with the lesson the more I had taught it showing that experience is so valuable to self-development.

I set some good extension tasks of finding and adding in another “Friend of Elvis” to be put in from the Internet.

I used some good classroom discipline to keep them under control when the noise level became too loud.

What could have been done better?

In my earlier lessons I found that my explanation was quite rushed and not as thorough as It could have been this had a repocusion later on as there where so many questions almost too many for me to handle at once. I found in the last lesson that I did when my delivery was clear and concise they where able to really get on with the work with out too much guidance.

I need to keep an eye on pupils that are running behind due the extremely hi ability sometimes the less able can get missed.

I have to make sure I keep the plenary time for assessment of learning and ict skills not just an artistic critique on their work.

Conclusion

All in all I feel it was a good set of lessons that where executed with good pace and clear guidance.

11/03/2011

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

Networking ICT GCSE Theory

By adminPGCE, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

What we did & Learning objectives!

This was a theory based lesson that was teaching the year 11s all about networks and looking at how they can be applied in the real world with advantages and disadvantages.

Understand what a network is the purpose of them.

Understand the advantages and disadvantages of networks.

What went well?

We had a time of silent study to answer an exam based question worth 8 marks. This worked really well and after what was quite a rowdy lesson they were all silent and worked really hard on this and so I praised them for it. It was good to see them doing some independent learning.

I enjoyed being given the freedom to take the class on my own as this allowed me to be my self and to really try and be free. I found this also brought challenges.

What could have been done better and what will I do about it?

I over planned for the course that I was doing so had to remove some extra information that they did not need to know about. I was curious why I was not told about this but I should have read the exam spec again as it said that this was the ICT short course.

I thought that there were elements of boredom which lead to the low level disruption of talking. Thankfully I was able to keep it under control and issue a warning to back up that I meant business.

I feel that I could have tried to think up some more creative ways to express the topic and could have teased out more during the questioning time to get them thinking about it. I felt that I was reading to much of my PowerPoint and not really explaining the points and making sure that they understood what I was saying. As many of them where beavering away with their notes but not really taking it in.

I feel that I need to really try to keep the behaviour tight and keep insisting on no talking when I was talking. I also feel that need to think up some more engaging activities to get them thinking about the theory more the trouble is that they are not really getting on task when I ask them to do group discussion and feed back as they don’t answer my plenary questions and I really need to push them to answer it.

All in all I feel that I will need to keep planning interesting content and maybe observe my mentor teach a lesson on theory for example he suggested to look at analogue and digital data.

Please use this link to view my full lesson plan >> http://bit.ly/ay9fTR

And resources like powerpoints >> http://bit.ly/99WSEY

15/11/2010

Reasearching and adding content to websites Year 8MQb4

By adminPGCE, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

What we did & Learning objectives!

1) To find out some key points about your topic using effective search techniques – what it is – history of how long its been an issue – a few key facts and figures eg. How much GM food is produced in the uk. Also include one news article

2) To gather some relevant images and pictures from Google image search and from a stock photo website like Corbis images and sxc.hu

What went well?

My planning was pretty spot on and really helped the delivery of the lesson. I was able to use my PowerPoint effectively and use my subject knowledge well.

They were on task with the website preparation of pages and were really beginning to form and fill their websites with information.

I thought I used RM tutor well and especially blank screens for those who were not listening.

Students Learning

I was really able to questions the pupils well target my questioning to pupils that were obviously not responding. I tried not to do keep asking the same pupil again and again.

What could have been done better and what will I do about it?

The main downfall of this lesson was the behaviour management of the low level disruption.

The pupils were quite chatty and talkative which made it hard to start teaching as they were talking.

I found that I did have to reprimand them and ask them to be quiet and I gave them all a chance and said that I will issue warnings for people who talk when I was talking and they were then quiet but then I found myself getting so swept up in the teaching that I missed the other pupils talking again and did not follow through on my warnings.

So the main things I need to work on is to NOT start teaching until all the class are quiet even if this takes longer.

I also need to be hotter on giving warnings if I use it as a threat and what I should find is that once I do issue one ill be saying that I have given you a warning contact book out and or name on the board. I expect this will kick them into action.

Students Learning

Feelings

Please use this link to view my full lesson plan >> http://bit.ly/dcqvrL

Observation by my mentor of me >> http://bit.ly/99JtGO

15/11/2010

Researching Online – photos and text – Year 8MQB1

By adminPGCE, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

What we did & Learning objectives!

In this lesson we had a look at good ways to research content online with a focus on text and pictures. The purpose was to give them some structure and guidelines on how start to populate their websites with good looking content.

To find out some key points about your topic like using effective search techniques – what it is – history of how long it’s been an issue – a few key facts and figures e.g. how much GM food is produced in the UK. Also include one news article
To gather some relevant images and pictures from Google image search and from a stock photo website like corbis images

What went well?

I laid down the ground rules to start with and set high expectations which went well and I was able to control the class without to much trouble.

I was really happy how I was able to start with a recap and get them on task quickly. I was able to use this time to make sure that each pupil was up to scratch.

The pupils were on task and achieved a good amount of work in the lesson. They are really beginning to create a website that looks good and could be actually used on the web.

Some of the questions were answered well

The where able to use their english and skills to write the work they had researched to create the work in their own words. I had to make sure that pupils where comming up with sentices and paragraphs that where realated to the work and to make sure that it was relevant. It was interesting as some pupils literacy levels where much higher than i expected which makes sense as this is a top set.

What could have been done better and what will I do about it?

I asked them to find content for their website and did not show them how to import it straight into their website. I should have said compile it in word and then paste it into frontpage. I think in the future I would make sure I have each instruction completely clear that allows them to completely get on with the task.

I was meant to show them a few more options to find stock photos so will need to make sure I plan for demonstration time a bit better.

Its was hard to just talk about some of these websites on the PowerPoint with out demonstrating them again I think its best to have a live example of the website rather than just image.. screen shots could be taken to achieve this come to think of it.

Feelings

It was a busy and fairly tiring lesson but this was because it was the last lesson of the day and everyone was tired. How ever they did get a decent amount of work done.

I was really enjoying it and feel that it went well.

It was interesting as I enjoyed the time also when my mentor left the class room as this gave me complete freedom. This is not at all to say that I don’t like him there. It is just at times you want to please and glance over at your mentor for approval which shouldn’t be the case we are teaching the kids not our mentor.

Please use this link to view my full lesson plan >> http://bit.ly/bWh9yP

05/11/2010

Website Design – Lesson 1 – 8MQB4

By adminPGCE, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

This was my first lesson that I had full responsability over and all in al it was realyl good. I really enjoyed it and found it really rewarding. i have completed a full lesson plan an evaluation doccument for you to read. I dont want to waste any more time on talkin about the lesson as it is all in the google doc.

I will be doing full lesson plans and evaluations for one lesson a week.

Googe Docs Lesson Plan and Evaluation Doccument http://bit.ly/9UOrCH

I was also formally assesed by my mentor and the link is here. http://bit.ly/9deKwR

I will also being doing shorter reflections in this format.

What went well?

I brought the kids in well

The use of ICT was an obvious standards that was ticked of well her and will be throughout my teaching. I have seen that pupils base level of ict capability is fairly good and this is something that i will be able to build on.

What could have been done better!

I will need to keep incorporating how to use english and maths well in my ict teaching.

I need to set my learning objects up on a PowerPoint that I can use clearly at the beginning of the lesson to say what we are going to achieve this lesson. So just list theses on a slide show with a nice format that is nice to look at..

I then need to use the objectives to aid my plenary and to check over that they all understand how to do the relevant areas.

I need to predict the areas that might be technically challenging and have a good explanation of these and trouble shoot response

I need to have further extension task for the pupils that finish early.

03/11/2010