Tag Archives: Pupils

Cairn Primary School Glow School Site⤴

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Amanda Pickard at Cairn Primary, Maybole shows how she encouraged staff to use Glow to help make learning fun.

 

cairnps

Amanda used the previous version of Glow for learning and teaching and was keen for all staff to use the new version. As a result she embarked on a training programme for all staff in the school. After this was completed, Amanda felt the ideal way to get started was to create a school site on Glow, with a school landing page and pages for each class and teacher.

Amanda created the Cairn Primary School’s Glow Landing page:

cairnpslanding

She then encouraged each teacher to create their own class page with help if needed.

Amanda created her own page for her Primary 6 class:

cairnp6page

Every class page has a Newsfeed, Things to Do list, useful weblinks and photographs.

Amanda’s P6 class has additional pages created for topics studied by the class:

Scots

The Modern World

Safer Internet Day

All homework for P6 is uploaded on to the P6 Glow page.  Pupils can manage their homework for the week and have the choice to download it early depending on any commitments they may have during the week.  This has worked well for quite a number of pupils.

The weblinks section has proved useful as a resource to help pupils complete their homework with popular links including Education City, Sumdog, Cool Maths, Woodland Maths and Literacy websites. As well as this the teacher added topic specific websites such as Yad Vashem and Guardian of the Memory websites for Holocaust Memorial Day.

Another feature which proved useful for learning was the survey feature.

As well as setting up the survey on the class page, a graphical representation can be called up showing pupils the results of the survey:

cairnsurvey

This is an ideal tool for helping pupils learn about information handling and they can create their own surveys and analyse the results.

The pupils are particularly keen on the Photographs section of the class page where all photographs of learning activities and other class activities are posted.  Amanda reports that pupils love being able to show their families what they have been up to in school and this has proved to be one of the most popular areas on the page.

As well as this, the Newsfeed has allowed an ongoing conversation about learning to take place amongst teacher and pupils and other pupils. The informality of this conversation can sometimes disguise the fact that there is meaningful help being provided amongst peers with homework and of course the conversation is monitored by the class teacher.

Amanda’s plans for next session include having staff proformas on the school landing page to make them available to all teachers.  For her class she is planning to begin using OneNote which will allow her and her pupils to edit documents simultaneously, for example working together on a Word document.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GPS Sensational Sevens⤴

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This is a wonderful class blog from Gourock. The pupils and their teacher blog about a wide range of activities, using images and video expertly.

Hello and welcome to Gourock Primary School’s P7 Class Blog Inverclyde. Check back regularly to see what we have been up to! This Blog is updated by P7 pupils and Mrs Hunter. Follow us on Twitter: @MrsAndreaHunter

 

gpssensationalsevens

Gourock Primary Sensational Sevens

My Island⤴

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My Island.

An interesting looking blog from a Primary Learner, Emma describes here blog:

I live on the lovely island of Islay on the west coast of Scotland.  We have lots of lovely wildlife, beaches and people and places to visit.  I go to port Ellen Primary School and every year primary 5-7 carry out an Endeavour project.  This is an extended project that must be ambitious, challenging, have new learning and be shared with others.  Last year my Endeavour project was on cooking, and I made lots of different foods in the school kitchen.  This year I am going to be travelling around my island and finding out more about it.  I will write about my experiences in this blog with the help of my teachers and parents.  I want to learn all the different things there are to do on Islay that I enjoy.

Safer Internet Day 2015 Kinglassie Primary School⤴

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A little background to the story……

The Internet Safety – Learners site was developed to illustrate how technology could be used to support teaching and learning.

The purpose was to exemplify key features available through the technology and how this could be used to improve the learning experience.

Olivia Wexelstein (Teacher of P7) at Kinglassie Primary School in Fife kindly agreed to develop a series of lessons with a clear focus on Safer Internet Day. Both the Head Teacher and Olivia recognised that the technology could in fact be used to support a whole school Internet Safety project.

The project was carried out on February 9-10 2015 which would coincide with Safer Internet Day. Although the technology supported a whole school approach to Internet Safety it also opened up possible opportunities for other learners and educators across Scotland to take part and contribute to the project.

It was clear throughout the planning of the project that technology offered a wide range of ideas and possibilities to improve the learning experience. Each task was designed to incorporate various features of technology and this allowed learners an opportunity to engage with technology on a wider scale.

 

Was Glow services the only type of technologies used in the project?

No, although Glow offers a wide range of technological services other types of technologies were explored as the purpose of the project was to exemplify how technology could be used to support teaching and learning.

 

Which Glow services were used for the project?

Olivia created tasks which allowed learners the opportunity to use the following features within Glow:

Office 365

  • OneNote to share ideas
  • Newsfeed to communicate and share learning experiences with others
  • Discussion forum to discuss a Safer Internet Day video
  • A dedicated area which allowed learners to upload their work

Wikis

  • Another collaborative tool which supported learners in working together on a specific task

 

Did young people have an opportunity to use any other types of technology other than services offered through Glow?

Yes, Olivia used Padlet (https://padlet.com/) which is a virtual wall that allows people to express their ideas and thoughts. It really is like an online sheet of paper where content e.g. images, videos, documents and text etc can be added anywhere on the page from any device.

 

Can I have a look at the site to see what Kinglassie PS achieved?

Absolutely, the site is available at: http://tinyurl.com/lkhaz5b. The site was available and promoted using the national newsfeed on Glow as well as using other communication channels such as the Education Scotland Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Maisie

Lawthorn primary school⤴

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We visited Lawthorn primary school to find out how they have been using Glow

Listen to teacher, Mr English, sharing what he has been doing and which of the Glow services he has been finding useful.

And now we have some pupils talking about what Glow has meant for them

Glenburn primary school⤴

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cab sec meeting

Four children from Glenburn Primary have been to the Scottish Parliament buildings in Edinburgh to speak to Angela Constance MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and Alasdair Allan MSP, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages.

 The fab four, Ellie (P7), Courtney (P6), Andrew and Jaxon (both P5) were invited to share their experiences of being ‘Digital Leaders’ in their school – where they support other young people and teachers with the use of GLOW – the national online community for education – and other forms of technology during lessons.

Jaxon said: “It was brilliant to get invited to up to Parliament, but a bit scary too! Talking to the Minister about Glow and how we use technology was really exciting.”

Courtney added: “As Digital Leaders in our school, we help each other to be the best we can be. I told the Ministers we wanted to try and help all other pupils to be the best they can be.”

Ellie, Courtney, Andrew and Jaxon described the work they have been doing at school confidently and passionately, impressing both Ministers with their knowledge and understanding on the role of technology in learning.

Ellie said: “I was really proud we got invited to talk about our work in school. I hope it will help others set up groups like our Digital Leaders so they can also use Glow to share their learning as well.”

Andrew added: “I felt really nervous when we got to meet the Ministers. But before I knew it I was talking away about Glow and all the different ways we use technology at Glenburn. It was great!”

glenburn 1

Digital Learning Session for Scottish Ministers⤴

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On Wednesday 10th December, pupils and teachers from six Scottish schools met the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Angela Constance and Minister for Schools, Science and Scotland’s Languages, Alasdair Allan to talk about Glow and how they use Glow and digital technology in their schools.

Digital leaders from Glenburn Primary School, South Ayrshire talking to Angela Constance about how they support their teachers and peers in using digital technology.

Glenburn Primary School 1There was a real buzz around the room as pupils spoke enthusiastically about digital technology and demonstrated the tools that they are using in their schools. Some of the reasons they liked Glow were:

  • Pupils can talk to each other about what they did in class and share ideas
  • They feel they are too young for social networks like Facebook or Twitter, so Glow provides an alternative way to chat
  • Glow is a safe environment
  • They liked the personalised launchpad as it gives easy access to their favourite apps
  • The advice on Glow about not giving away personal details is useful (Community Rules)
  • Teachers can upload revision videos to Glow. Accessing it from Glow varies the way pupils learn and revise
  • Teacher can add comments to homework

Pupils from Kirkton of Largo Primary School, Fife showing Angela Constance their class site and blog (foreground)Kirkton of Largo Primary School 1

Pupils from Preston Lodge High School, East Lothian chatting to Alasdair Allan about apps they use in the classroom (background)

The pupils were also honest about the drawbacks of using Glow, listing internet connectivity problems when they all log into Glow and the lack of devices in the classroom sometimes being an issue.

Gemma Sanderson, a teacher from Kirkton of Largo Primary School said: “Glow is so much better, I’m on it every day”. “The main thing for our school is that everything is in Glow – all in one place. Children like how everything is linked.”

Why I like Glow 2