Supporting my Team

As the lead teacher for ICT in my Team I have used two different ways of supporting my team members this Term as they are at different stages and have different needs and also have individual personal ICT Goals for this year which link to their performance management at the end of the year.

For TG and RT who don't have projectors in their classrooms I provided individual support within their class. So each was given a block of my release where I discussed with them in advance what they would like to work on then went into their class and helped them achieve this. RT was keen to do a photostory with a group of capable children and also for the teacher aide to observe and participate so she could assist in the future. We successfully made a photostory for the letter p with the children finding lots of things beginning with that letter and taking photos which were then uploaded into a photostory which the children added transitions, titles and music to. They were very keen and RT then went on to make a photostory on popcorn which was part of our Pod 1 assembly this Term.

TG was keen also to do a photostory which we did for the letter m which had been their letter of the week for the previous week and so the children had already discussed items beginning with that letter. After that we introduced the children to their class knowledgeNET page which TG is developing together with me at the moment. The children played reading and maths games and practised logging on and browsing through the different areas.

For JL and WD who are new projector users this year I invited them to observe in my room. JL wanted to observe maths and so I had a group doing a smartboard activity using interactive number dice and adding them then completing the word and number problems. I had planned to have a group using rainforest maths which is a fantastic website which I secured a username and password for at the beginning of the year but which I feel I have been neglecting a bit! Unfortunately the site was under maintenance so we were unable to use the planned for activity. However, I was able to use another knowledgeNET link to a similar activity and showed JL how I hyperlink to my worksheets and websites and smartboard activities from my weekly plan which she found helpful.

WD observed a group doing blogging on my class computers. Unfortunately we are in the middle of changing over internet provider and so the internet was fluctuating. However, we managed to get all 4 children in the group to view a poem in one of our blog friends blogs and they then orally told me a comment which I scribed in their writing books and they posted. We had to do one at a time on one computer which was the only one working but it was ok because I always anticipate there will be problems and had paper publishing for the group to work on while they took turns blogging. Luckily though this was my teaching group and I wasn't having to manage something else at the same time! I also had a group working with my teacher aide on our letter of the week g and finding objects with a g - goat sound and a g - gel sound and separating these into 2 groups. The children then took digital photos which I uploaded to our class blog.

I really enjoy supporting other people but every time I do some sharing or have someone observing I am reminded how organised and prepared you have to be thinking through what might happen so that when it does you are not caught out! The best advice I can offer during technical difficulties is stay calm and if all else fails flag it and move on!