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ICT competences required by

Teacher

Ability to:

• use a data projector
• save and open a ready made word bank in Textease (see Making and Using Word Banks in Textease.doc)
  
• Making and Using Word Banks in Textease.doc (optional)
  

Child

Ability to:

• open a file with help if necessary

• to recognise common external features of domestic dwellings
  
• to record their observations appropriately
  
  

Resources

Computer with large screen or data projector for whole class teaching
ICT suite or set of laptop computers
Ready made Textease files: houses.t2, external_features.t2, house word bank.te
Making and Using Word Banks in Textease.doc (optional)

Vocabulary caravan, bungalow, terraced house, flat, chimney, sash windows, label, word bank etc.

Preparatory work

Teachers should acquaint themselves with Textease and save the Textease file external_features.t2, houses.t2 and the word bank - house word bank.te on to the demonstration machine.
Put the file houses.t2 and house word bank.te into a shared area for the children's use.

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The Lesson

Whole Class Teaching

The teacher explains that children are going to look at some photographs of homes and identify similarities and differences.

Teacher displays page 1 of the Textease file: external_features.t2

Q What can you see on the outside of this home?

The teacher records the words on the screen as the children suggest the features e.g. fence, letter box, chimney, windows, door, leaded lights, roof etc.

The teacher can demonstrate how children can check what the label says by using the speech facility of Textease.

Teacher scrolls down to second page and opens ready made word bank - house word bank.te (to open the word bank select Other >Select word bank and browse to find the saved word bank.)

Teacher invites children to come and use the word bank to label common external features of the house illustrated on Page 2.

Q Are there any other words that you would like to use?

Give children time out to think of some with their response partners.

Teacher adds words directly on the page as appropriate.

Teacher now demonstrates how to use lines for labels and move words around the screen.

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Main Activity

Explain that the children are now going to label a series of 3 pictures of other homes using a ready made word bank and lines to link the features to the labels.

Remind the children how to use the talking facility.

Send children to computers to open the file houses.t2 (you may wish to have this already open) and load the word bank.

Children now label the homes.

More able children could enter further detailed observations on each page e.g. the large country house has a very flat roof, a circular window, a lake in the garden.

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Plenary

Draw the children back together and display page 3 of the file external_features.t2 which shows images of a gypsy caravan and a cottage along with a Venn Diagram. Look at each dwelling and identify if one or the other or both have common features e.g. chimney. If so encourage children to place the word chimney in the intersection of the Venn Diagram.

Q Which other word could be placed in the middle?

Now encourage children to place the remaining words in the correct space in the diagram.


Why use ICT

Demonstrating: Using ICT the teacher can effectively illustrate procedures to show children how to label a set of images using drag and drop.

Accessing and analysing: ICT gives the opportunity to use a variety of approaches that incorporate children's preferred learning styles. It allows access to images in multi-media format that can be easily adapted to accommodate different learning styles and approaches. The use of ICT to quickly change the information provides the teacher with opportunities to engage with children and, in particular, facilitates analysis and interrogation.

Presenting, re-presenting and communicating: ICT opens up a new opportunity for presentation. It enables the teacher to focus children on specific features of homes and further explore the content. Once the presentation is created it forms a reusable resource.

Testing and confirming
In this vignette the use of ICT takes advantage of the opportunities provided by the speech facilities available in Textease enabling children to work more independently and test and confirm what they have labelled.