When working with the children, we chose article 6 'The right to life and to be healthy' to focus on and create a stop motion animation. We took the idea of healthy eating and getting your 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. We decided to use real fruits to make a smoothie by moving each fruit into a blender for a child to drink. In the process of making the film, children took turns in each role and each took the voice of one fruit, fortunately we had 5 children in the group. We were able to use 'i can animate' software which was simple to use and the children were all comfortable using which worked in our favor as time was a constraint. However with this aside, the children accepted the task, being enthused to take part at each stage, suggesting their ideas throughout the process.
Splitting our group into small groups worked well for creating our animation as it allowed both the audio and animation to be completed within the time frame we had.This also enabled discussion to be focused on what effects/music and extras the children would have liked when it came to editing. If I was to use such technology within the classroom, I would ensure that children are involved in all the stages from planning through to editing. With the children's ideas in mind, we edited the animation and overall was pleased with the final result.
Working with the children was really beneficial, and allowed me to develop new skills as well as put into practice skills I had previously learnt, however on future practice if I was to use technology within a lesson I think it would be a struggle if there was not sufficient adult support.
After not being able to work in your group I'm glad it all went to plan! I agree that I would like children involved through all stages of planning through to editing and think it could even be beneficial to have a 'technology day' every fortnight/half term where children can use different technologies in relation to a particular topic. If you only had yourself and say one TA would you still make use of technology? I know there may be a lack of adult support but maybe the children could be grouped with a 'leader' who knows a lot about technology? I'm not entirely sure how that would work but I think it all depends on your class and getting to know them.
ReplyDeleteI think that if it was a TA and myself in a class there is still ample opportunities to include new technologies within the classroom. Prior to Shirley Warren I have used filming in school where I have worked with a small group whilst the other children were with the class teacher, although the task was successful, if I were to use it again, I definitely feel that using new technologies in the classroom should be a whole class activity. A possible solution to this could be putting the children into groups and allowing them the time to complete their video independently could be one solution. This could be done by having a base for children to return to where either yourself or the TA will be situated and this will allow the other to walk around the groups ensuring they are on task. However, this will need pupils to have a plan of what the are doing and be trusted to complete the task.
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