Rossett School

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!

A huge thank you to you all for some stunning performances, well done.

A really successful evening that was very well supported, please thank your Parents, friends and family for coming.

Mrs B

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!

I need to speak to everyone taking part in the Senior Concert tonight, please pass the message round.

Mrs B

Tickets for this event at the Pavillions, Harrogate are now on sale.

Please note if you are unsure of the location there are directions on the website www.pavillionsofharrogate.com

Well done to all the pupils who took part in this event, you were absolutely amazing and made everyone feel very proud.

We cant wait to see the photos.

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.

One app that I have used is cloudon, which allows you to use word, PowerPoint and excel on your iPad. You will need a  dropbox  app downloaded here too which is basically a free cloud based storage device. Also have a look at explain everything app.

It is great as your own mini whiteboard. You can add photos in, web pages and make video and audio presentations which you can use with students.

Below is a video I made using the explain everything app.

Finally socrative is a great app for gauging students responses. You can set up a quiz, use the true/false section to just verbally ask students to respond and also there is an exit ticket section where students can feedback what they have learnt in the lesson.

Cheers,

Paul

In theoretical GCSE PEand BTEC sports I have used 2 apps this week to assist with student learning and to assist illustrate certain points or topics. Educreations is like explain everything, it acts as an interactive whiteboard when linked to a projector and allows you to add pictures, you can then add labels to or draw a model etc (see example).

Revision of Performance Pyramid by GCSE PE students

Ibrainstorm is a great app for brainstorming ideas,thoughts and debates, this can be put in the middle of a table and you can have four students all adding their points or thoughts.

(IBrainstorm on PSHEE -  Body Scanning By Jess Walker, Marina Tapley, Harry Wilson and Marina Tapley)