Wow! What a busy term we've had! i started last term with great gusto in ICT and blogs, but found towards the end of the term we were just so swamped by finishing off things and being so tired and exhausted that reflecting on my blog and trying out new ICT things with my class was just too difficult to fit into my daily programme. I was a bit disappointed by this, but found it so tricky to find time for each child to get onto the computer to make their reflections and goal setting. It is hard to find a balance between the learning log reflections and blog reflections, because of course it is so much easier to get a class to sit down and reflect in their learning logs at the same time, rather than getting each child on the computer one at a time. This of course takes longer and is harder to monitor. And of course, while students are on the computer reflecting on their blogs, they are missing out on whatever the rest of the class are doing and then need to catch up on this work.
I guess it is a case of me finding a time that works best for them to be missing work, say in the afternoon during topic time, and making sure that children get used to the routine of getting on, reflecting and then getting the next person on the list to jump on and reflect, rather than me constantly reminding them, as i will often forget when we are in the middle of a lesson.
I am looking forward to using the flip videos this term, and can see them being really effective with our oral language programme. I plan to record each child doing an impromptu speech at the beginning of the term and then get them to set goals based on their ‘first attempt’. Once we have had some practise in speech making we will record another impromptu speech and reflect on our progress. It should be a really great way for children to visually see which areas they need to improve in.
