would not engage or challenge them.
I love being ahead of the game and by
then, so many great new apps became
available. One project involved having
them choose mountains from around
the world which they presented in video
form using the amazing Tellagami. They
wrote non-fiction pieces to use as the
script. Some of them even used iMovie
to create split screen conversations
(similar to journalists).
What were some of the surprises
that these projects revealed?
One of the main surprises that the
project revealed was how ready the
children were for technology-infused
learning. My own kids are two and
three years old and they both have had
iPads since they were one year old.
My three year old daughter Jessica
has just started in Foundation 1 and
she’s been learning about shapes. She
came home from school the other day
and started to point out all the circles
around our home to me. I told her to
use her iPad to take photos of all the
circles that she saw which she set off
doing independently. I then sat down
with her and opened up a collage app
called Moldiv and used it with her to
help present her circles. The next day
she took it to school and was so proud
of herself.
How can other teachers implement
similar projects? What resources
20
Nov - Dec 2014
would they need?
It’s about gauging how confident your
staff members are and not expecting
them to run before they can walk, where
technology is concerned. It involves
ensuring that your staff are trained and
confident. Also, of optimum importance
is having the right infrastructure to
support the technology. There is
nothing worse than training the staff
to use something and then on Day 1
it breaks. After a while people will not
trust it to work and won’t bother to try.
You have to be realistic with the goals
that you have in mind. There are
many apps that are great to use in the
classroom. However, you have to be
careful so as not to spook anyone by
being overly ambitious with what they
can or should be able to achieve. The
point is that being able to use just one
properly, can be a great achievement
for those who are not as confident
using technology.
Another thing that teachers need to
keep in mind is that they need to be
receptive and open to learning from
their students. I consider myself fairly
good at what I do. However, I learn
from my students all the time. A few
weeks ago, I was doing E-Safety work
using iMovie with my Year 5 students.
I changed the flow of my lesson based
on a suggestion from a 10-year-old
student. So, don’t be afraid to learn
Class Time
from your students. A lot of the time
they are the experts. They are versatile
and great at problem solving especially
when it comes to technology.
What project do you have next?
My focus this year, in my new role as
Head of Computing, is on Computer
Science – mainly programming. This
is not new to us at JESS Jumeirah, as
we have been integrating it for the past
few years. We want to make sure that
it is being delivered in a progressive
way. I’m currently doing a lot of game
design. I’ve just used Sketch Nation
in Year 3, to design a 2D computer
game similar to Flappy Birds. They
were doing a healthy eating project,
so they had burgers as obstacles and
cabbage-like Pacmen characters. In
Year 4, we have been using the worldrenowned Scratch programme out of
MIT for digital literacy. Year 5 students
have been creating games using
Pixel Press Floors. The focus here
has been on effective game design
rather than actual programming, so
that when we move on to that side of
things, their actual design thinking will
be more strategic. Our Year 6 students
are currently coding using Kodu from
Microsoft to design full 3D games.
Share with us three gadgets that
every teacher should have and use
in their classes. Why?
I do love gadgets. I have a bunch of