iTeacher

Excellence in Education
2021

Wesley Renton

About me...

I have been a teacher since 2010 and started my career at Stirling Primary School in East London. For 9 years I was a Grade 7 class teacher but had a passion for ICT in the classroom. I really enjoyed trying to "modernize" the curriculum that we had, and, with the introduction of iPad's for all grade 4 - 7 classes, I felt excited about the possibilities.

In 2020 I moved to the Senior (grade 4 - 7) Computer Lab.
I now get to incorporate new and exciting ICT lessons to the school's senior phase pupils.

Covid-19 has unfortunately meant that the computer lab is "out of bounds", so, I have had to come up with lesson plans that focus exclusively on the iPad - this has, at times, proved quite challenging as I have had to alter desktop-based ideas to suit the iPad.

I enjoy "scaffolding" lessons so that the pupils are provided with enough instructions and examples so that they are prepared for tasks and activities but they will have to use independent thinking, perseverance and problem-solving to succeed.

I have had great success using G-Suite programs, Google Classroom, Book Creator, SeeSaw and a number of other apps to be able to "package" lesson plans that are easy for the pupils to access and work on.

"My most successful 'tool' during the lockdown has to be Book Creator. I have found it to be such a versatile and user-friendly app for both teachers and learners. It allows for teachers to share the work and instructions all in one neat little package and thereafter allows the pupils the freedom to create and share their work in many different formats."

List of apps & websites used...

Leadership

The grade 4's learn about famous leaders as a part of their history module. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi are two such leaders.

For their ICT class, I provided videos from YouTube about these two leaders, as well as: Winston Churchill, Elson Musk and Barrack Obama. The pupils had to watch these videos and write down any important words that 'jumped out' at them about what they thought made a good leader.
We then used these words to create Word Clouds (Word Art) using images that they thought best represented leadership.

Once this was completed the pupils could then write a short speech (using Google Docs) as if they were leaders of the school and were addressing all pupils and staff. They were to write a speech that was meant to inspire and motivate all during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pupils then had to use the 'split-screen' function and Voice Memos app to record their speech. They were then able to play it back to themselves and test and see whether they needed to make any changes.

Their word art, speech and voice recording were then all uploaded to Google Classroom.

Student work

Weather Report

For Geography, the Grade 4s were learning about weather. We decided to create a weather report at the end of the module to reinforce any learning done.

Pupils used an app called 'Windy', Google Docs and iMovie to create their weather report.

Using Windy, pupils would be able to take a screen recording of the weather for a certain area and time. (This app gives an amazing visual representation of the weather all over the world.)
The pupils then have to interpret this information and turn it into a weekend weather forecast for a specific area.
The pupils will write their weather reports in Google Docs.
Then, pupils will video record themselves in front of a 'green screen' giving the report.
Using iMovie, pupils will create a weather report and add sounds, images and any other features that they think will make it look more professional.

As you can see, there were a number of "teething issues" using the green/blue screen function. This will be corrected next year.

Weather report - version 1

Screenshot from "Windy"

Weather report - version 2

Using Google Earth as an interactive programme for the pupils has been quite beneficial, not only are the pupils seeing the Earth as a whole, but the ability to add extra information and multimedia makes it that much more interesting and engaging.

In Grade 4 Social Science (Geography), the pupils needed to draw/create their own Pirate Treasure Map that included a map grid, map key and other important features. The pupils could use either Google Drawings if they had access to a PC, or the Book Creator app if they only had the iPad available. In order to make the exercise more interesting and exciting, I created a Google Earth project that took the pupils to 5 real-life pirate islands from the past and added some extra images and facts for them. The pupils could then choose the island that most interested them and create the treasure map from that.

Please find the instructions for this exercise here and the Google Earth project here.

Google Earth

Pupil's work

Transportation & the Sphero ball

In this history module, I created a Book Creator template book that allowed pupils to answer any questions and complete mini activities in the template book. The Book Creator template took information from the Grade 4 History - Transportation module and made it more interactive and visual for the learners. It focussed on the history of transportation and why animals were used - oxen, donkeys, camels, horses, etc...

At the end of the unit, the pupils had to create a "chariot" that was to be 'drawn' or pulled/pushed by the Sphero Mini. Pupils we allowed to create and test their designs in class or at home. We then had chariot races to determine who had the best-designed and fastest chariot.

A knock-out style competition was held over a few weeks and champions were crowned!

I used this activity as an introduction to the Sphero Mini.

Block coding would be the next feature introduced.

Please remember that each pupil would download this book as a template and work through it at their own pace.

Click me!

Chariot Challenge - Grade 4

Around the world in 5 clicks

In Grade 5 Social Science, the pupils were learning about certain geographic and physical features of countries (Islands/mountain ranges/lakes / waterfalls / etc). In the past, pupils would have had small black & white images of these features as well as a few facts about each pasted into their workbook. I decided to turn this into a Google Earth project so that the pupils could go to each place in Africa, see extra images and still get the facts.

After this, I got the pupils to create their own Google Earth project, called "Around the World in 5 clicks" where they could take us to 5 of their dream locations anywhere in the world. They would also need to share 5 facts and images of their dream destinations. Some pupils chose to follow a theme to this project: "My top 5 golf courses I would like to play", "Premier League Football Stadiums", "Roller-coasters around the world", etc... They would need to research their destination using the "Safer Britannica" app.

Students also had to complete a Google Slides template that showcased their various destinations. Here is an example.

When complete, the pupils would then showcase their projects to the class and class teacher, choose one of their locations and do an oral on it during an English lesson.