Rossett School

We have been using Sketchbook Express which is a free drawing app, and is now installed on the iPads which are available for booking out.

When first opened, you can go through a quick tutorial which is very user-friendly.

To access the tutorial at any time, just press the i icon on the top toolbar, then help along the bottom toolbar and it will open up.

One of the best features of this app is the use of layers, which is similar to PhotoShop. You can import a background layer from your photo gallery. We have been taking screenshots of our work and then dropping them in as background layers in the next lesson in order to continue to add detail.

Overall, we have found this app easy to use with a good range of features.

On Thursday I used Ipads with my GCSE PE students for the first time and like Paul Mac has already mentioned, I wasnt sure on how it would go, so I decided to start with a low use, easy to manage activity. With students ranging from year 9-11 I had two options how I could get the students to use the IPads for the RIGHT reasons.I could either go in heavy and start with the students involved in a task or I could give them five minutes to explore (think thats the correct word) to reduce the chance of any potential mis-use.

After they had five minutes to have a play I got all students to watch a YouTube clip I had created through Explain Everything. The clip was designed to help students break down/structure long exam question which they had found to be difficult on their latest mock paper. Students could then sit with more or less an Ipad each, watch the clip and answer the long question , starting and stopping the clip where they needed.This then allowed me the opportunity to work with lower ability students in the class who would perhaps need that extra support with answering the questions.

The students responded really well to this and there was no messing around or incorrect use of the Ipads which was my original concern.In fact it was that good students want to use again next week! Next week im trying Show Me to create adverts on benefits of taking part in physical activity!

Today was a bit of a step into the unknown as I taught a lesson which involved the students using the new ipads. Like many staff I have been impressed by how my own personal ipad has opened up many areas which has helped in my lessons. What I found today was that with a little pre-planning the ipads can be a fantastic aid to learning when the students use them too.

The lesson was based around revising the aerobic energy system with my Yr 13 A2 PE students. Prior to it I had made a short video of what I wanted them to learn in advance. I did this with the explain everything app which then allows you to upload it to Youtube. I shared this over twitter with my students. The video is below:

I then started the lesson with a short quiz to establish understanding using quiz I had made on Socrative app. The students then in pairs started brainstorming on simple facts about aerobic system using the brilliant Ibrainstorm app. As they were doing this I got Socrative to email me the report of the initial quiz and we then as a class reviewed our knoweledge and progress. I then split the class in half and they all produced a presentation using the Showme app on the specific areas that I gave them. With this they could use screen shots from their Ibrainstorm work or screen shots from the notes app & put them in as pictures. Some even revisited my explaineverything video by searching for it on Youtube on their ipads to remind them of certain aspects.

They then presented to their partner on their respective areas. Finally to gauge progress and check understanding, I used the exit ticket on Socrative to get the students to answer an exam question and also tell me what they had learnt, or still found difficult. There was even time for some students to copy their ipad notes and paste them into the google docs that I set up which they can all now share on Realsmart. With the exception of the explain everything app all the apps mentioned here are available to use on the student ipads. Only things is now they want to use the ipads every week!

Update: Letters are now available from the year 7 and 8 year offices or from the ICT department office in the P Block. There are a limited number of places (some of which have already gone) so register early if you want to go!

Saturday 19th of May between 9:45 and 12:45 in the Resource Centre at Rossett School

Could you be the designer of the next Angry Birds? Do you have loads of ideas for new and exciting games but don’t know how you could even start making them? Are you interested in making your own computer programs? If this sounds like you then you, and your parents, need to come along to our family event on World Scratch Day.

Scratch is a free program that lets you design your own games by clicking blocks together like Lego. It is used by people throughout the world to learn how to make games and other computer programs, many of which are shared on the Scratch website.  To see and example of the type of games you can produce with Scratch have a look at one of our year 7′s work by clicking here.

For our event we are inviting both our pupils and year 5/6 pupils in nearby schools to come to Rossett with their families and join in the fun by making their own games! The first part of the day will be spent introducing Scratch to those for haven’t used it before and developing new skills for those who have. These skills will then be put to good use as each group will be set the challenge of developing a game in their own style! Don’t worry if you have never done this before because there will be plenty of expert help available to make sure you get your games working!

So, if making your own game sounds interesting and you would like everyone to be playing your games then you need to come along! To sign up for the event you will need to get a letter from Mr Cullen in the ICT department or have your parents contact the school to request one.

Today has just demonstrated how engagement and enjoyment for learning can be greatly enhanced using an ipad in lessons. Even though I only had my ipad to share between my group of 10 BTEC Outdoor Pursuits students the buzz it created amongst them was brilliant. We were looking at different components of fitness, different methods of training and how the components are tested. I had previously downloaded an app called “Fitness Tests” which linked each component with ways in which they are tested. Here is Dean and Lewis working using the ipad app to help them with constructing their popplet for their assignment.

Georgie then looked at more tests of fitness components.

The app also allowed the students to compare their own results with national data, which was great for them to see how fit, or unfit , they actually were. As the students were all at different stages with their assignment they were able to pass the ipad around and research the different tests and compare their scores. Have a look at Dean below explaining how he is using the app.

Having trailed the ipad over the past few weeks across the key stages I can, without a doubt, say that it is a fabulous teaching aid that enthuses and engages all pupils. Whether it be through simply recording a drama based activity that they can instantly watch back and critique and improve or through using apps to recap key terminology and present ideas all pupils have simply loved using the ipad.

Aps I have found particularly useful have been:

• BrainPop – an app that shows mini videso on areas such as grammar  (as well as PSHEE, Science and technology areas too)and punctuation then tests the pupils on what they’ve learnt
• Flashcards – this enables flascards to be saily created and used in whole class or individual basis. The fact that they that don’t rely on printing, copying and laminating, and are therefore eco-friendly and time friendly too, makes this app even more amazing if you ask me!
• ShowMe – an app that allows pupils to draw, write and verbalise ideas that can then be used to teach the whole class a key words / phrase or that can be used as a revision tool/ I found this particularly useful with the lower ability / lower confident pupils as they were able to ‘get involved’ in a less intimidating manner
• Popplet light – enables pupils to mind map their ideas which can then these can be saved and emailed. This worked well to collate whole class knowledge about a novel, as well as naturally creating differentiation by having the G&T pupils add their ideas last – meaning they had to think deeper about an issue/topic.  Again this created enthusiasm and engagement across the key stages.
• Manga Shakespeare – an app that shows the Bard’s classics in a manga format. Pupils loved seeing the play interpreted in a different way. Additionally the use of images with the Shakespearean language meant the plays became more accessible, especially those who groan at the mere through of a Shakespearean play!
• JogNog – a useful app that has a selection of readymade quizzes across a variety of topics. I found this app to be interesting and engaging as the whole class was able to get involved when we projected up on the whiteboard.
• 60Sec Recap –this is an amazing app from an English point  of view as it does exactly what it says it does – recaps a variety of texts in exactly 60 seconds in an informal, engaging manner.

The list for apps I have found, used and found effective could actually go on and on – from audio versions of books, to GCSE English tests to story cubes and make your own dice – I really have found the ipad a brilliant tool to use that saves time and engages and enthuses. I genuinely do not have a bad word to say about this fabulous piece of technology.

I have used the ipad for video purpose. This has been such a great tool as students have been able to access their work immediately with a view to self and peer assessment. This has improved the quality of the performances definitely. Students are keen to be filmed too – so more are putting themselves forward for performance – this shows a great improvement in their confidence. The ONLY downside for us is that we all want to use it – and there’s only one!

I recently took a group of Rossett students to participate in the annual Rotary Technology Tournament. This out of school event was an excellent opportunity to trial the Ipad and think about how to maximise an out-of-school experience. Students and myself loved the fact they could watch a recording of their work in progress then send instantly back to school for inclusion in lessons, realsmart or twitter. I can see the benefit of Facetime for events like this

Unfortunately we didn’t win the contest but our students did us proud.

So far i have found the Ipad to be a valuable piece of technology within lessons and the pupils who have been asked to use it have found it extremely helpful.  In the first instance, as a teaching aid it has been great as it has allowed me to access registers quickly and use the internet as a quick search tool leaving my classroom computer free for pupils to use if required.

Useful Functions for the pupils:

The camera function has been used constantly as it takes good quality imagery and pupils can email it directly to their school email without having to find leads and memory card devices – it’s much quicker than using a camera and the pupils don’t have to wait for myself to place the images on the shared area to access them.

The safari browser has allowed quick access to the internet for individual pupils conducting research tasks when a computer has not been available – and by using the copy tool they have emailed themselves the information to work from.

Skitch is an app where an image can be drawn over quickly with lines and arrows and this has been very useful with revision as it has proven to be a very quick way of annotating imagery rather than projecting it and hand writing over the image on the board - very useful to pupils with quick questions to gauge understanding (where on the image is the…….? Label the ……part)!

Book Creator is another very useful app as it is a very effective way of creating moodboards.  When done on word, all imagery has to be formatted and some pupils find this frustrating because whole page set-ups can change and move around if they forget to format one picture but with this app it is very quick, easy to use and very effective.

SimpleMind is a mindmap app which again, is a very quick and easy way of creating a piece of work which normally would have been done by hand or on word and could be quite time consuming.  The pupils understood it staright away and even commented that if they had this before the start of their coursework they wouldn’t have had to spend so long taking their time with neatness and presentation.

Itunes U has recently been shown to me by Mrs Young and is something that i will be using with my students for revision – especially my A level classes as it allows you access to a huge range of visual resources that span many different topics.  I can see pupils downloading videos from universities on subject specific topics when researching issues.

So far, i have been extremely impressed with the Ipad and have been amazed at how easily the pupils have taken to it, it has saved myself and pupils time, it’s been really easy to use and above all else – less pupils have ‘lost’ their work because it’s in their email which has also meant alot less printing has been done which certainly can’t be a bad thing!