Final Posting of this Blog

I'm actually rather sad to say that this is the final post of this blog, I have rather enjoyed writing it and think that it is a really good way to communicate as it helps you be reflective and allows you to think about what you want to say as well as allowing you to revise it easily before posting it. I think that it would be really good as a system set up for paretn teacher communication, to allow teachers to tell the parents how life at the school and in the class is going in general and keep them up to date with any key dates or events.

I also think that this is good for children, but has limited uses. I still think that email is a better way to communicate specific details, such as home learning progress, or if a child is off sick. In the school I am in a lot of the children don't have access to a computer at home and if they do they don't use it for emailing. I do think it is good for the class to communicate with another school, possibly abroad though. It could be done as a whole class activity on the IWB and they could add pictures and links and learn a lot at the same time.

ICT software at school, well it's rather limited at the school I've been in, digital camera that you bring in yourself, digital microscope that doesn't work as well as a normal microscope, IWB, which I love, but I hate to write on it - even if it's only just been aligned it still doesn't write where it's supposed to!! Um...... actually that is pretty much it. The children use Textease all the time, as the school doesn't have a license for Office for the children to use, which I think should be compulsory for year 5 and 6 as they will be expected to use it for pretty much ever more.

I have also used some good software, mult-e-maths, knowledge box, internet sources galore on the IWB which enhances the children's learning, oh and I used BBC i-player for the first time ever last week when I played a tv show about explorers to the children that had been on tv a few nights earlier - what a fantastic new tool - 4OD is Ch 4's equivalent, they are really great! The worst thing about school technology though, apart from the lack of it and the lack of contact the children have with it was the fact that they have blocked U Tube on all the computers. The number of brilliant resources that I could have used for my lessons that I found on there that couldn't be accessed at school was very frustrating, ebay is fine though.....??!!

We had a class wedding this week in front of the whole school and we even had a photographer and let the children look at the photos afterwards, they loved this!!

Anway to sum up a rather jumbled blog I must say that I think that the more ICT in school the better. The children love it and they love any chance they get to use it. I know it is expensive, but it is easy to use and it's engaging and enhances both my teaching and the childrens learning and who can complain about that!!

PS. Keep this blog task in for next year, I've found it amazingly beneficial both as a practical activity to familiarise myself with this technology as well as a reflective tool, which has enhanced my skills.

Thanks, see you back at uni.....