My Enhanced School Experience (ESE)

Enhanced School Experience:

Preparatory Task for ICT for Meaningful Learning

Enhanced School Experience: Classroom Observations of ICT Use

(I)                Specific Observation

School Name: Stamford Primary School

Class: 2/6

Profile of the class:  The class has a healthy number of mixed-ability students. Majority of the students lie in the high and middle abilities range, with exception of three students who are in the LSP programme.

Subject: English Language (MLEA 1)

What ICT tools were used in the lesson? Computer i.e. Powerpoint Slides and Windows Media Player. Overhead projector.

Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in the lesson. ICT is employed on an everyday basis during an English lesson. For this particular lesson, prior to reading the current big book, students’ interests were rallied by playing a related song. The song enabled students to recall the topic of the big book. In addition, playing the song piqued their interests  and captured their attention. Whilst the song was being played in the background, powerpoint slides, with song lyrics and engaging pictures, were flashed to encourage pupils to sing along and, at the same time, learn and recall new words. Hence, the song acted as a mnemonic, especially for low ability students. Another aspect of ICT used during the same lesson was the employment of a video prior to class and group writing. The video viewing provided the students with a visual representation of what they would be writing later in the lesson. Showing the video was integral in providing students with a wider content repertoire hence expanding their creativity.

(II)             General Observation:

How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning? (For this question, you may want to speak to the HOD/ICT and other teachers you know in this school)

In this day and age, students are more receptive to the use of computers during lessons. By using computers to deliver a lesson, teachers are able to create real-life examples which students can relate to. In addition, ICT also provides a platform of learning using a variety of media such as videos, flash games and even cloud computing, where students can work on the same document concurrently. ICT also helps in delivering pedagogy methods such as providing learning centres for pair work, i.e. think-pair-share. Now with the massive use of electronics such as Ipads and tablets in classrooms, teachers need not create ICT materials from scratch. There are a huge collection of ICT tools that can be easily accessed online by students and teachers alike. Hence, this makes it easier for ICT to be integrated in classrooms.