As much as I love technology, I will always talk about the importance of reading on my CPD sessions. It really annoys me when people like to blame technology as a reason why children don't read as much. We like to blame technology for a number of things but for me, it comes down to choices. I hope through this blog and my social media pages, I demonstrate how, when used effectively, it can transform teaching and learning. Unfortunately, I think too many of us make the wrong choices with technology.
When pictures like this appear on my social feeds, it does wind me up because they both can be valuable and certainly enhance each other:
For me, technology can enhance the reading experience allowing pupils to explore texts in more creative ways. This is something I wanted to promote in my yearly Christmas video.
For the past 9 years, I always treat my pupils to a silly video at the end of our annual talent show. To see what I have produced previously - CLICK HERE.
This year, I decided to do something with a more serious message. I absolutely love the new John Lewis Christmas advert. In fact, I blogged some ideas for how you can use it, click the picture to see.
Inspired by this advert, I created my own looking at how reading can take you to some magical places. Please help share this important message by sharing the video far and wide!
Here’s my version of the John Lewis Christmas advert all about my love of reading for pleasure!
We've been waiting all year in anticipation for the new John Lewis Christmas Advert and I love this year's effort.
I know not everyone is a fan. Personally, I think it is more about people possibly not liking Elton John but the message of the advert is brilliant. If you're not a fan, you can always use the adverts I have previously blogged about here:
Here is this year's advert:
As always, I would start with the text, What text I hear you cry? The song! One of my favourite songs, I just love it!
YOUR SONG
Why do you think the song has this title?
Who is this song going to be about?
It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money, but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live
If I was a sculptor, but, but then again, no
Or a woman who makes potions on a traveling show
I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song, and this one's for you
What is funny at the start? His feelings.
Why would it be funny? Maybe he's never felt like this before.
What might be the feeling inside? When you feel excited or slightly nervous, you get butterflies in your stomach.
What do you think is causing this? His love towards someone.
What can't he easily hide? His feelings
How might he show his feelings? Discuss how love affects us on the inside, outside and through our actions.
Does Elton consider himself poor or rich financially? In between, he says I don't have much, but has enough to survive.
If he was rich, what would he buy? A big house
If you were rich, what would you buy?
Do you think this song was written early or late in Elton's career? Why? Early, he is now very successful and lives in a huge mansion.
Why might he be a sculptor? So he can show his love by creating a masterpiece.
Why does he then decide against it? He might think he would be rubbish or it isn't a career that he would enjoy.
Why would he want to make potions? Maybe make a potion to make the person he is singing about feel the same way, or change the way he looks/acts if he doesn't feel happy with himself.
What is his gift? This song
Does he feel it is valuable? No, he says it isn't much but its all he can do.
Do you think it is valuable? Open for discussion. If this song is successful it will become financially valuable but having someone value you enough to write a song or poem is special.
And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple, but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is, now you're in the world
What does he hope this song will do? Fill the person with joy and confidence to share it with everyone.
What do you think is quite simple? The lyrics and message of the song. The vocabulary and imagery created in this song isn't very complex or too deep. He is fairly blunt in his message about his feelings.
Why does he repeat the phrase - I hope you don't mind? He recognises the person may feel embarrassed, especially if the feelings aren't recipricated. But he wants to assure the person that it is fine.
Why would he put it down in words? He might not feel confident enough to tell them in person so writing gives him the opportunity to share his feelings.
Who else might use words to share their feelings? Authors, poets
What does he want the person to realise? That they may Elton's life wonderful by simply being in it.
Who makes your life wonderful?
When was the last time you told them?
I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well, a few of the verses, well, they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on
Where was this song written? On the roof of a house.
Is the house old or new? Old
Why? He kicks off the moss, moss grows over time. Interestingly, the writer of the lyrics, Bernie Taupin, allegedly wrote the song’s lyrics after breakfast one morning on the roof of 20 Denmark Street, London, where John worked for a music publishing firm as an office boy.
What does cross mean? Angry
Why would writing make him cross? Writing his hard, especially when you are trying to share your feelings, it can be hard to find the right words. With a song, it can be more challenging especially with rhyme and rhythm. It can also be interpreted that the person they are writing about might not know how they feel or feel the same way.
When do you think he wrote this song? Spring/Summer
Why? The sun is out.
What figure of speech has he used in third line? Personification - the sun has been kind.
How might the sun be kind? It might stay out longer, keep him warm.
Can people keep the sun turned on? No
What does he mean by that line? The sun produces a hormone in our body called Serotonine. This helps reduce depression and anxiety and can heal wounds. Obviously, too much can be harmful, but the sun makes us feel happier. He is telling the person that they bring the same benefits as the sun.
So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do
You see, I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean
It's yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen
Give me a word to describe the singer? Forgetful, ditzy.
Do you think the writer of the song is a confident person? No, he decides to express his feelings through words and as demonstrated in this verse, he struggles to get his feelings across.
Why might he not remember the colour of the person's eyes? He was just lost in them. It doesn't matter the colour, they are just beautiful.
Why might someone's eyes be deemed sweet? They are considered the windows to your soul.
And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple, but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is, now you're in the world
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is, now you're in the world
Why has the song finished on this line? It is a lovely line that epitomises the meaning of love. The people we love make our lives better.
Why do you think this is one of Elton's most popular songs?
Who did this song remind you of when you listened to it?
It is important to discuss how love can take many forms and we love people in different ways. The last line can apply to so many different people in our lives.
Can you make a list of people who make your life wonderful by being part of it?
Who do you think Elton is singing about when the song was originally written? Open for discussion. The song was composed and performed by Elton John but the lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin. Elton John hadn’t come out as gay yet, but Bernie Taupin knew, which is part of the reason why the lyrics avoid using gendered pronouns.
Why do you think this song was chosen for the advert?
Who do you think Elton is singing about in this advert? His mother or the piano.
List the ways in which he could be singing about his mother and how it could be about his piano.
Considering the advert as a whole:
What is the message of this advert? Giving someone a gift can help them find a passion.
What does John Lewis sell?
Why have they chosen to focus on a piano for their advert? It isn't about the specific gift, it is about what the gift can do for someone.
Why have they chosen Elton John? He is one of the most successful entertainers ever and so it proves the point more when it relates to someone so successful.
How does this advert relate to Christmas?
If you do explore other adverts from the previous years. Compare which children like more and ask them to justify their reasons.
I will be posting some more ideas for this advert over the next couple of days. But these will be exclusive to the supporters of my Facebook page. You can sign up by clicking the picture below:
You will have seen over the past half term I have been working on a very important topic with Year 4 inspired by the Greenpeace "There's a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom" advert.
This has since been used by Iceland Foods as their Christmas advert but has been banned from TV.
This has culminated in a very special project where my class have all become published authors.
To read what we have done so far, click the pictures:
The first link looks at the advert in more detail and the work my class produced writing in role as an Orangutan seeing their home destroyed.
The next post looks at the letters my class have written to all the companies with links to dirty palm oil and the responses we have received.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been learning more about Orangutans. We started by generating questions we wanted to find the answers to and then looked at researching on the internet to find the answers to the questions. This gave me the opportunity to discuss and teach the children about researching and how to do it effectively.
The children used their research to create interviews with the Orangutan using the app Animate Anything:
Every pair was then given a question to answer and using the app Book Creator, they designed a page sharing the knowledge and understanding linked to the question. The finished pages were then combined to make a class eBook. What we decided to do with this eBook is publish it onto the iBooks store. Click here to learn how we did this.
We decided to sell it for 49p with all the proceeds going to help the Orangutans. You can download the eBook by clicking the picture:
Since its release, I have been astounded by the response! Over the weekend, I watched it shoot up the iBooks store chart, eventually peaking at number 8! That's 8 out of every eBook on the iBooks store. Yes, not only have my class become published authors with a book that has a proper ISBN number but at one point over the weekend they were the author of the 8th best selling eBook in the UK!
So the next time you hear a teacher question how technology is a waste of time, a gimmick or adds little to learning, show them this blog post.
Here are my class with the money they have raised so far:
They will be splitting the money between the WWF and Greenpeace. They have already used some of this money to adopt an Orangutan.
A few weeks ago, I blogged about a project my Year 4 class had started, inspired by the recent Greenpeace advert - There's a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom. To read that blog post, which includes original questions linked to the advert, please click the picture:
The response we received from the video the class created where they wrote in role as a helpless Orangutan, seeing their home destroyed was so positive and empowering. Again you can read more about this by clicking the picture above. If you haven't yet seen the video, here it is:
From the reaction to the video, my class were inspired to go further and investigate the issue more. We discovered this from Greenpeace, which identifies companies with links to Dirty Palm Oil:
According to Greenpeace, these companies made a promise to be clean of dirty palm oil by 2020. My pupils decided to write to these companies to provide a polite reminder and ensure they are on target to keep their promise.
After drafting their letters, I gave quality oral feedback through our iPads, this is something I cover on all my CPD sessions and will also be demonstrating on my subscription page on facebook.
The pupils were then given the opportunity to transform their writing into a video using Adobe Spark Video. This is another example of the READWRITEPERFORM approach in action. These videos were then tweeted and emailed to all the companies identified in the above image. Here is an example from our pupils:
Please let my class know what you think by leaving a comment on this video on facebook.
So far, we've received a lot of replies from the companies. I can't wait to share them with my class as they'll see how their writing is making a difference:
We will keep you updated with this project as we continue to learn about it in class.
In Year 4, we have been inspired by the latest Greenpeace Advert - There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom. The advert tells the story of Rang-Tan, a young Indonesian orangutan that has been forced out of her home by humans. It is a beautifully animated video with a very powerful message:
We decided to look at the text used in the advert in more detail:
There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't know what to do. She plays with all my teddies and keeps borrowing my shoe. She destroys all of my house plants and she keeps on shouting 'oo'. She throws away my chocolate and she howls at my shampoo. There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't want her to stay, So I told the naughty Rang-tan that she had to go away. Oh, Rang-tan in my bedroom, just before you go, Why were you in my bedroom? I really want to know. There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do. He destroyed all of our trees for your food and your shampoo. There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do. He took away my mother and I'm scared he'll take me, too. There are humans in my forest and I don't know what to do. They're burning it for palm oil so I thought I’d stay with you. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom now I do know what to do. I’ll fight to save your home and I’ll stop you feeling blue. I’ll share your story far and wide so others can fight too. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom I swear it on the stars: the future's not yet written but I’ll make sure it's ours.
Some questions we explored:
What is a Rang-Tan?
Why do you think there is an Orangutan in her bedroom?
Why does the young girl not know what to do?
What does the word 'destroy' mean?
Why does the Rang-Tan howl?
Why doesn't the girl want the Orangutan to stay?
What word does the girl use to describe the Rang-Tan?
Do you think the Rang-tan is naughty? Why?
On a scale of 1-5 how desperate is the girl to know why the Rang-tan is in her room?
Where does a the Rang-Tan live?
Why are humans there?
Why are humans destroying the forest?
Why does the Rang-tan keep repeating the line "There's a human in my forest..."?
What do you think happened to the mother?
What is the main reason for burning the forest?
What is palm oil used for?
What clues in the video let us know what palm oil is used for?
How does the girl feel about the Rang-tan at the end?
Why do you think her opinion has changed?
How will she fight? Why will she fight?
How can she share the story far and wide?
What would you do if you were the girl?
Do you think this advert is effective? Why?
How can we help?
The advert certainly empowered the class to explore the issue further. We discussed how terrifying it must be for the orangutans when the diggers and trucks come and demolish their rainforest home. We decided to write stories as Orangutans going through this experience. We considered how to create the most effective story by using different elements:
A short, effective hook opening sentence.
Describing the weather to create the mood.
Describing how we felt through our actions.
Using multi-sensory descriptions to help the reader visualise the horrific scene.
Changing the length of our sentences for effect.
How to not use words like diggers/trucks but instead describe them as monsters and beasts.
Although it was their first draft, I was really impressed with the writing the students produce. The children knew that the work they produce would be shared online for the world to see, which added an authentic purpose:
During afternoon assembly, a group of pupils stayed out of the assembly and recorded some of their writing on the green screen to create this awareness advert:
We would love your support by sharing this video and commenting on it. We are hoping this will help raise awareness of this issue but also inspire year 4 to continue to write and share more about this issue. So far we have received messages from Greenpeace and WWF:
So please show your support and encourage our learning by sharing and commenting on their work. Watch out for more work which will appear on their class blog over the next few weeks!
If you want to support the Greenpeace campaign to #StopDirtyPalmOil, sign the petition here.
If you are a follower of this blog, you will know that I am a massive fan of using music in the classroom. I have often blogged examples of songs I have used to develop reading comprehension. Click the following image to see all the previous songs I have blogged:
To further improve reading comprehension the latest songs I have chosen to work on gives the opportunity for pupils to make valuable links and compare similar texts. All the questions have been put into a downloadable pack you can buy for JUST £1.99.
Here is a taste of what is included in the pack:
The Little Mermaid - Part of Your World
Maybe he's right. Maybe there is something the matter with me I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad... Look at this stuff Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection’s complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the girl The girl who has everything?
Who is Ariel talking about when she says ‘Maybe he’s right’? Her Dad
Why do you think King Triton thinks Humans are bad? Humans pollute the oceans and also hunt the wildlife.
What wonderful things do you think Ariel is talking about? Open for discussion.
What tells us Ariel is young? She uses the phrase ‘isn’t it neat’ and also references herself as a girl.
What does she have a collection of? Human artefacts
How has she managed to get these objects? Shipwrecks
How do we know she has a lot of human artefacts? She says her collection is complete
Does she feel happy about the collection? A little, she wants more.
Why would you think she has everything? She has a good life, she is a princess which is what a lot of people desire
Frozen - Let it Go!
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried
What does the lyric ‘not a footprint to be seen’ tell us? She’s alone
A kingdom of isolation is an example of what? A metaphor.
On a scale of 1-5 how big is this feeling of isolation? 5 due to the word Kingdom, not a room, house or street.
Why has the word Isolation been chosen? Play on the word ice
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside is an example of? A simile
What verb is used to describe the wind? Howling
How does she feel about the storm inside from this word choice? Why? She feels scared, wolves howl and they are often depicted as fearful predators.
Who is Elsa talking about when she sings ‘heaven knows I’ve tried’? Her parents, who pass away at the start of the film.
Moana - How Far I'll Go
I've been staring at the edge of the water
'Long as I can remember, never really knowing why
I wish I could be the perfect daughter
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try
What tense is used in the first line? Present perfect
Why has she chosen the word staring over looking? Staring gives the impression of concentration as shes really thinking hard.
What could the water be a metaphor for? The ocean water is a metaphor for the unknown, the Other, for thinking outside the box, for being a pioneer.
Where is the edge of the water? The shore
How do you know she’s been staring for a long time? As long as she can remember
If she doesn’t know why she’s staring at the water, why does she do it? She’s curious, there’s something inside that longs to explore.
How does she feel about this longing for the ocean? Guilty
How do you know? She wishes she could be the perfect daughter
What does it mean to be the perfect daughter? Being the only child of the village chief, she is poised to be the next leader of her people, but at 16 years of age, she can’t help but long to explore the world and imagine different paths for herself. *Link her to Let It Go and the lyric ‘that perfect girl is gone.’
The pack also includes a 'making links' section for children to explore similarities and differences between the songs and themes.
I am not going to lie, I am very jealous of all the amazing teachers attending the Global ADE 2018 summit in Texas. I have been closely following the hashtag #WWADE2018 and #EveryoneCanCreate and enjoying some of the amazing content being created and shared.
It has reminded me of all the brilliant new additions to the Keynote app and inspired me to try some with a project with my children. They are going on a school trip tomorrow to the zoo and so created this animated quiz about animals:
Keynote has been an app that I have used personally in my CPD and training sessions for years. Essentially, it is Apple's version of Powerpoint. At the UK ADE summit last year I was very fortunate to get a one to one tutorial with a Keynote expert, Alan Rosenfield, who really opened my eyes to creating engaging content to support my training sessions. More recently, Apple have announced a number of new updates to Keynote which take the app beyond a simple presentation app to an incredibly powerful creative app.
Here are a few of the features we used in the video above. Each one can easily be adapted to a whole range of other topics and activities.
Drawing
The ability to draw adds an incredibly powerful dimension to the app in terms of creativity and animation. Take the Elephant example in the above video. The pupil added an image of the elephant from the shape tools and then traced over the top with an Apple Pencil (the pencil certainly helps in term of accuracy but isn't a necessity) they can then colour the image. But here is the lovely addition, once completed, you can tap onto the image, choose animate and select the line draw option. When you tap the play icon, it then plays back a video of your drawing. Here is a quick gif demonstrating this tool:
It was the brilliant @MrTullock who first made me aware of the line draw tool when I saw he had created this and shared it on his facebook page:
I had a play when I created this animation for our podcast:
The first thing we did in the animals video above was to create an image in Adobe Spark post of the glasses (see right). This was then added over the picture of the animal and using the Instant Alpha tool, you can make the lenses transparent.
To make the glasses move over the picture we used the Magic Move transition. This was repeated over a couple of slides. The following gif demonstrates this process:
The potential to this idea is massive. Giving clues about a part of the body or a planet linked to science for example. Maybe sharing clues about a book or a character in English. Revealing clues about a certain location in Geography or a famous historic landmark. This masking tool can also be added over video too, taking it a step further.
Recording Audio
Possibly the best addition is the ability to add audio recording to each slide. The best part is that it is so simple to do. Simply tap the + icon and choose the record audio option:
Once selected, the children can record at the bottom of the screen. The brilliant thing about it is how it easy it is for children to edit and re-record by just scrolling back and tapping record again. The pupils can stop, gather their thoughts and then continue to record and then insert the whole recording to the slide.
Image Animations and Transitions
With some of the other images, we simply used some of the animations to create the reveal picture. By adding an image and tapping the animate tool, you can then select the desired animation. You can then adjust the duration to match the audio the students have recorded.
Another option is to add different shapes over the image and using an effect to get rid of them one by one. Here choose the build-out effects and then order them to play automatically after each other.
These are just a couple of options we used but there is a wealth of others within the app.
Export as Video
Another brilliant addition is the ability to export every project as a movie. Previously, it would be a case of playing the Keynote and using the screen recorder option (which I have previously blogged about here.) With the movie export option, this saves a lot of time and improves that functionality.
So with all those amazing new additions to this fantastic app, the question is, what will you create?
As always, please do share anything you create using these ideas, all I ever expect is that you just give us a shout out and thanks for where the inspiration has come from. I can't tell you how demoralising it is when people use ideas from the blog and then try to pass them off as their own. Don't get me wrong, it inspires me to stay creative and original but when those ideas are then being used on other CPD sessions without any credit, I just find it very disappointing.
There have been plenty of occasions when my classroom has resembled a zoo!
But today, through Augmented Reality, we actually turned our EYFS classroom into a real zoo!
I've blogged about different ways you can use Augmented Reality (you can read them here) and it never ceases to amaze pupils and bring that moment of awe and wonder that technology can provide.
The app we used today was LEO AR camera. Using Apple's ARkit, the app allows you to scan the ground and place 3D animated objects into the real world.
There are a range of different objects you can add including different animals and dinosaurs. There is a horror option which may not be appropriate for your pupils. Today, we just used this app on my teacher device.
There is a record option which allows you to video the animated object within the scene alongside your pupils. This is a little buggy at the minute so today we just used the screen record option of the iPad to capture the interaction between the pupils and animals.
Once we had placed some animals in the classroom, we recorded each other standing with them. Using the app Apple Clips, the pupils then shared some facts about each animal. We put everything into a little video as a guide to our classroom zoo. Let us know what you think:
One of the best things about teaching is what children say that just astounds you. Sometimes the discussion and conversations you have with children can just completely blow you away. Don't get me wrong they often make you chuckle and laugh but when faced with a more serious conversation, I am always amazed at the depth some children show.
Today I had an amazing morning with Year 2 looking at proverbs.
I introduced the idea of a proverb as - A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. They are often metaphorical. We also discussed a couple of examples, including:
Don't count your chickens before they have hatched.
We discussed the meaning behind this beyond the literal and examples - England fans who think we will win the World Cup because we won our opening game.
I then shared this document which had examples of famous proverbs but only the first part to them. You can download this here:
The children were then given the opportunity to complete the proverb with their own ideas. The children were aware of some but the challenge was to make sure the saying then had a message. I was blown away by some of their ideas but more their meanings. Take for example:
Take for example the first one in the top picture:
Beauty is in the eye of death.
Now, this might seem dark, but when I questioned the student, she explained that when someone dies we tend to only remember the beautiful things about them.
AMAZING!!!!
Once the children had created their proverbs, they were challenged to create a video on Adobe Spark Video where they could orally explain the meaning behind their proverbs.
