Such Fun!!!

I loved today's lesson! It was so much fun!!! I found using the new software really informative and could see a great use for it's application in the classroom. I enjoyed Textease as it was so versatile and free. It allows users to create more imaginative and exciting work and has the added benefit of being able to connect to the internet at the same time so that you can research resources or images to add to your work.

I particularly enjoyed using the tutle tool, which would be excellent for KS1 for directions. Although I couldn't get it to play on it's own, which was a little frustrating. My favourite aspect of Textease was the branching database function, which I feel is hugely beneficial. In a Science SATs practice paper my SBT1 class were doing recently they had one of these, where they had to identify what a leaf was by looking at its features. They all found this really difficult and confusing, so this function would be fantastic to help them practice and get used to them. I particularly enjoyed replacing the name of the animal with a photo of the animal from google images as I think this presents better, helps children who don't know what something looks like for example my partner didn't know what a wombat looked like and adds a even more fun to the task.

I also really loved the applications on Inspire 8. I found the idea of using a mind map on the computer fascinating and for those who like a little more order (like myself) there is always the tree format. I used it to represent some of the places that I have travelled too and places in those countries that I went to. I then used images from the software to represent my memory of the place. This would be a helpful revision tool for those that are visual learners, as they could associate the picture with the word. As said in class these are also very good for children with Dyslexia as it helps them to get their thoughts down on paper and organise them so that they can then write about them. Good for story planning. Also could to record what has been learnt about a subject.

The final application we didn't get to finish looking at, but another useful tool, a survey/test program that presents the results for you to interpret and analyse - a wonderful tool to save time, which is seriously lacking in our profession! Definately one to remember!

Thanks for a great lesson!

Tara for now!