Learning Walk 4 - Use of New Technologies - 7th – 18th November

Many thanks as always to everyone involved in the Learning Walk.

Areas of Strength:
To some extent, the use of ICT (although not specifically ‘new’ technology) was evident in most lessons observed, with teachers often using ppt to focus on lesson objectives, guide the direction of the lesson and remind students of success criteria. Some lessons had a more student centered use of technology where students researched information and presented their ideas or where students were encouraged to participate by coming up to the SMARTboard to add comments or draw attention to key points. In these lessons students, especially boys, were instantly engaged through the use of ICT.

The use of ‘new’ technologies was less evident in this learning walk although the use of MATHLETICS in which year 9 students were ‘gripped’ by their enthusiasm to compete with students across the world testing their mental maths ability against the clock in order to collect points to decorate their avatar. This worked brilliantly for the ‘gaming’ generation as well as developing key skills. The lessons generated a ‘genuine buzz’ and parents at ‘Parentvoice’ were talking about it as well!

Learning Walk 3 October - November 2011 - AFL

 

As always, a key attribute of many of the lessons visited was the engagement and enthusiasm of the students as a result of the challenging and stimulating teaching they enjoyed.

In lessons where the learning objectives were specific and focused, this enabled students to competently build on their skills and demonstrate progress.

In one lesson, students were given a variety of images at the beginning of the lesson and asked to predict the main focus of the lesson. They then went on to create their own success criteria based on their target grades and previous learning, thus ensuring that learning was personalised and focused for each student.

In another lesson, a longer piece of extended writing had the first section of the work assessed in detail and students were then asked to review what they had written in the rest of the piece. This meant that –as this formed part of part of a lesson – it was an instant indicator of assessment aiding progress and ensured that students were an integral part of the assessment process.

 Many thanks to all those who participated in the learning walks.

Jayne

Areas of Strength: