Wednesday, May 13, 2015

What to do with extra screens in the classroom?

A couple of my schools are experimenting with having an extra TV screen in their room. One of the schools has 4 e-Learning rooms with 1-1 iPads, 12 Chromebooks and 10 Laptops. They have a projector, a large TV and a small TV. The other school has two TVs, one large and one small.

I first came up with this idea last year when I did some demonstration teaching at Alfriston School in a Year 5/6 class. The room had a projector and one TV. I had picked up a 21 inch TV with an apple TV so I thought I would try it as an independent centre. Students were using it for peer editing and collaborative games. So now the class had a main TV for a teaching station where groups would come for their instructional teaching, and a smaller TV that students could use themselves.
Clevedon has put a smaller TV in all their e-Learning rooms and the following are suggestions of ways to use them.

Ways to use the 'extra' small TV in the classroom
It is best placed on a large table that will fit at least 6 students around 


Work Station
  • teacher starts an online modelling book with students and then leave them to continue with activities
Writing peer editing group
  • students share their writing with each other, five minutes reading and commenting, then use the TV to look at the comments and the author can improve writing discussing comments with others
  • collaboratively write one piece of writing and use TV to view with all students contributing ideas

Workshops
  • have one computer or iPad mirrored with problem to solve or game to play
  • students collaboratively solve together, using other iPads/laptops/maths books to record
  • start a workshop or online modelling book with a group and leave them to continue

Games
  • one iPad or laptop mirrored, game is passed around with others offering advice
  • work through a coding project with a group (students will need to work out their codes on paper, or whiteboard table or whiteboard app

Research
  • collaborative research with students looking up information and filling in graphic organisers (students can be using their own devices to look for information and add to collaborative document, collaborative document can be on TV screen for all to see)
Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 8.40.08 pm.png
  • TV screen can be used to show mindmapping, one student typing up what other students are suggesting

Reading
  • students sitting reading through text, adding words to collaborative doc, then searching for definitions after the reading