“A2” ICT Quiz Cards for Revision

After being inspired by @_jopayne who produced a set a Geography quiz cards for a year 11 revision   session, I decided to create a set of 24 A2 ICT quiz cards, based on the WJEC specification.  I plan to print them out on card next week at school, and give each of my “A” level students their own pack.  They can then have a go at asking each other the questions. I might even include one or two joker cards to add a bit of fun to their revision session!

I also plan to produce a set of cards for my year 10 GCSE ICT students – maybe some students could produce their own questions based on past exam papers.  If you use the cards I have created, or produce your own, please let me know, and likewise, share.

Here is a dropbox link, or alternatively the cards can be downloaded from the box resource on this website.

Circle, Triangle, Square

Circle, Triangle, Square – differentiation methods.  Easy tasks or questions are represented by a Circle.  Harder tasks or questions are represented by a Triangle and even more challenging tasks or questions are represented by a Square.  The more sides a shape has the more difficult the task or question.  Students make their own choices, according to their ability, or can “have a go” working through each challenge.

A colleague at work (@ldufty) has recently been trialling this in the classroom with great success.  She has provided a googledocs PowerPoint. Please check it out.  Your comments would also be appreciated!

Hopscotch Programming

Hopscotch Programming Kits  suitable for 10 to 14 year olds, is a great introduction to programming and code generation.  I found it through Computing at School (CAS), of which I am a member.  I have had a go with it and think I will try it out tomorrow on my year 7 students (11 – 12 year olds), even though it is the last week for the Summer hols – I want to see what they make of it.

Here’s my “dogpup” that I created!  Have a go yourself – it is suitable for all abilities, allowing for some differentiation, and paired for lower ability students.

 

Origami in an ICT Lesson!

Origami in an ICT lesson!  Learning is fun.  My year 7  (11 – 12 year olds) students found it fun today and were totally engaged throughout the lesson.  My group of 26 students are a mix of all abilities from SEN to Gifted and Talented students.  So I thought being the last lesson of the year, I would try out something new, with an intention of using it, if successful next year.  I got the idea from Innovate My School.

As you can see from some of the examples created by my students it was a successful lesson.  Firstly, students followed instructions step by step on how to make the origami puzzle.  They then spent about 10 minutes researching the Internet and their looking through their folder to see what work they had done in ICT during the year – this helped them find suitable questions and answers.  For example, some students focused on spelling ICT words.

On the outside flaps were either numbers or colours.  Inside were numbers to chose from, and then the ICT questions.  The lesson lasted an hour and all students were engaged and buzzing!  They tried out their puzzles on me and the Teaching Assistant, and demonstrated a lot of learning throughout.  I would definitely recommend this 1 lesson project as an excellent Teaching & Learning Resource and/or Revision aid.  Suitable for all ages.

Games Console Design Cover

Xbox, PS3, PC, Wii.  My year 8 students (14 year olds), are currently working on a fun ICT project for the Summer Term.  Their task is to design and create a modified version of an existing Games cover, or to design and create a new Games cover for any Games Platform of their choice.  It is a 4 week project – well that’s all the time we have left to work on this task!  They have been provided with a net that they will use for their cover.  Print it out and make up the net when finished.

Rather than use the Graphics programs available on the school network – Macromedia Fireworks, Serif DrawPlus, PaintShop Pro, and PagePlus, I have encouraged them all to try an online graphics program namely Pixlr.  They spent today’s lesson working on their design and learning the program for themselves by sharing ideas and tips.

There was a lot of excitement at doing this Graphics project, especially as the focus was Games!  “Games” is filtered at school, so I directed the students to the Amazon, Games website to get some ideas.  I think this project is one to be revisited with other groups!

Leap into new Technologies

I came across this link on Facebook today through a friend, and thought wow! I’d love to have a go at that!  It allows 3D interaction with your computer and allows you to control software, by sensing individual hand and finger movements independently, as well as a pen.

As an ICT teacher who is currently looking at new technologies which support students with Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties and other complex needs, this nifty little gadget would so enhance their quality of life.

I wonder when it will be in schools?  Read more about it here …

Connecting Classrooms

Connecting Classrooms - Europe

Since visiting Aachen near Dusseldorf in Germany (9 – 11 March 2012), on an e-Twinning contact seminar, school has been very busy! e-Twinning is about Connecting Classrooms, working collaboratively with schools in Europe on joint projects.  It is not just about languages!

On 3 October 2011, I wrote a post about Skyping in the Classroom – year 9 students speaking French/English, and this joint project was through e-Twinning.  After attending a weekend course finding out more about e-Twinning, I returned to school buzzing with lots of ideas.  I have now set up three joint projects with schools in Europe.

Project 1 : involves 3 Countries: England, France and Poland – using email with year 7’s to chat to French students, and Polish students.  They will introduce themselves and ask some very basic questions to their European partners.  English and French language being very limited, and Polish students communicating in English to French and English students.

Project 2 : involves 2 Countries: Belgium and England – using French and English with students ranging from year 9 ( 14 years ) to post 16 (up to 18 years), through written communication.

Project 3 : involves 2 Countries: France and England – using Skype for speaking and listening skills, with year 9 students (14-15 years), current ongoing project.

Perhaps my projects are more about language, although working with a Polish school is only using the English language.  Other successful projects created and developed by e-Twinners involve 3 Countries, Spain, Poland and Germany all working on a Science project studying the Earth’s Gravity and analysing the different results.  Another project involved students sending/receiving food parcels between countries.

Connecting Classrooms - Global

I personally think that more schools and subjects should work jointly on projects worldwide; thus creating a more engaging Curriculum and give students an opportunity to find out more about each other in different countries, and share their experiences. This opportunity is now so easy through the use of Technology and Social Networking.

How do you Spell IT? Literacy matters.

Literacy across the Curriculum is an important part of students’ learning, and for a lot of students these skills are poor.  They are not very good at capital letters when typing their own name and nouns.  Is this because they text most of the time?  Although research says otherwise. Student’s also need to proof read their work and should always be encouraged to use the built-in spell checker  before printing out.  I also try to encourage my ICT students to use the thesaurus to extend their vocabulary and learn some new words.

To help with literacy within our school, I introduced Spelling City and the English Faculty became very interested in using this within their department.  It is a program that we regularly use within our ICT Faculty.  Students’ have their own individual accounts and their progress can be tracked as they work through the exercises, tailored within each subject, for their needs.  SEN students can also practice their handwriting skills, using the printable handwriting sheets.  It is a program that is very popular particularly with year 7 and 8 students.

Another program I have just read about, thanks to @chickensaltash is Read, Write and Think.  There seems to be some very good resources available on this website to check out.

This week we are working with our English Faculty and year 7 and 8 students to partake in the Global online Spellathon, which is a spelling bee aiming to raise money for Mencap.  Why not check it out and perhaps enter the Competition too!

Which Mobile App is best?

Spoilt for choice.  There are so many Mobile App programs now available I don’t know which to use with my students!  Our College has recently been approached by a local Zoo to create a Mobile Phone App.  One of their requirements is that the App could be sold to visitors and is suitable for families.  In order to help me find a suitable App program, I have enlisted the help of our Student Counsel, and have provided them with a list of programs to trial.  These programs are available on my blog for you to have a look at and trial too.  I would appreciate your feedback and/or experience of them please, or others you may suggest 🙂

 

A New Year should start with Computer Programming

Codecademy is such an easy way to introduce Computer Programming.  Its interactive and something that students can do both at school and at home in a fun learning way.  I plan to try this with my year 7 students.  Why not give it a go yourself and with your students?  Let me know if you do and what your students think.