“It Went Into Space!” – The Edtech Making A Real Difference For Pupils With SEND
Sal Mckeown looks at the hardware and software schools are using to engage their learners with SEND – and at how some of the outcomes have been out of this world…
- by Teachwire
Once upon a time, drill and practice reigned supreme. It was widely accepted that children who made slow progress with spelling and mathematics would simply need more of the same, as they were ‘slow learners’.
Now schools take a somewhat broader view, with teaching efforts focused more on building the motivation and fostering the creativity of pupils with SEND – often with the aid of various technologies.
Providing individual solutions
“I have a passion for using technology as a tool for learning.” says Christine Terrey, head-teacher at Harbour Primary and Nursery School in Sussex. She believes that schools need to opt for individual solutions and offer a range of generic open-ended apps and programs that can provide visual stimulus to support auditory learners and children with ADHD, who thrive on rigour and repetition.
A good example is Showbie on iPad. Children use voice notes to talk through a process – for example, recording the stages of working out a maths problem. They then listen back to the recording, identify where they have made mistakes and “It went into space!” edit the recording as needed.
It is a good solution for those who need to develop their speech and language skills, and gives children practice in developing an internal voice. Also of note is the way teachers have been using eye gaze technology – traditionally used as a mouse alternative for young people with disabilities – to support pupils with dyslexia. One such device, the MyGaze (see tinyurl.com/TS-MyGaze), has a video facility that tracks and records what the user is looking at.
“It is just amazing as a diagnostic tool,” says Terrey. “We can see if a child is looking at words and scanning lines, and start to help them to develop strategies – perhaps encouraging them to look at pictures to get clues about the words they cannot read.
The teachers at Harbour School make regular use of internet forums, social media, blogs and various websites to track down promising apps and software subscription packages, such as the learning resources and assessment tools developed by 2Simple (see 2simple.com).
Terrey also employs a school network manager, whose job is to troubleshoot issues, train staff in the use of educational technology and support teachers when things go wrong in the classroom.
From technology to books
“Ofsted wants to see children’s books, but we have to strike a balance,” says David Mordue, KS2 leader at Lanchester Endowed Parochial (Controlled) Primary School in County Durham. Mordue’s Year 4 class has a spread of ability, with high-fliers and several children with SEND, including dyslexia and autism. Earlier this year they were working on the topic of space, surfing on the wave of Tim Peake fever. The children researched planets, and wrote a report about the International Space Station. Mordue took a picture of the work, tweeted it, and soon saw it ‘favourited’ by none other than Tim Peake himself.
“Not only did it go worldwide, it went into space!” Mordue remembers. “When I showed the children the next morning, it was one of the most memorable moments of my 10 years in teaching – they gave each other a round of applause.”
Lanchester Endowed Parochial currently employs the services of Martin Bailey, director of a primary ICT consultancy called Animate 2 Educate, once a week to help them embed various technologies across the curriculum.
With Bailey’s assistance, the school adopted a range of open-ended apps, including Tellagami – an iOS app that lets the children create a custom virtual avatar in a choice of different outfits. Once they’ve settled on their avatar’s look, the children talk into their device’s microphone – in this case, while reading out facts about space. The app saves their recording, and when it’s played it back the character appears to speak, his or her lips moving in sync with the recorded words.
“This is good fun,” says Bailey, “but more importantly, it makes the children think very carefully about the vocabulary, tone and phrasing that they use. Technology like this lets teachers tick a lot of boxes for the literacy curriculum in a fresh and different way.”
Getting parents on board with maths
Dean Catchpole is maths coordinator and Year 6 teacher at Henry Whipple Primary School in Bestwood, Nottinghamshire. Many children start with low attainment on entry, but the school works hard to narrow the gap between their less and more able learners.
The main challenge has been to engage parents in their efforts at raising standards in mathematics. Catchpole in particular wanted children to use Mathletics at home to help them progress and become more fluent in mental arithmetic.
A former mining area, Bestwood is not affluent. Few parents own computers, but most have a smartphone or tablet, meaning that the children can usually access programs and apps at home in one form or another. Catchpole observed that children who had not understood a particular method would have a look at the Mathletics explanation at home. He has since seen an increase in staying power, too – “If pupils do a task and get 3 out of 10, they automatically have another go.” he says. “They are determined to show that they have mastered it.”
Training and support are the key to success, but here are six good ios apps to try:
Showbie
If any of the pupils in your school have been assigned their own iPads, this handy app will help you organise your class assignments and keep track of feedback. tinyurl.com/TS-Showbie
Tellagami
As explained by Martin Bailey, Tellagami lets children create their own custom avatars and animate them with speech recordings. tellagami.com
Sparklefish
Children record themselves reading aloud their choice of adjectives, nouns and other elements; the app will then use them to create a unique – and potentially rather funny – story… tinyurl.com/TS-sparklefish
Comic life
Lets children create their own illustrated comics and photo stories that they can view on an iPhone or iPad, and comes with a number of templates and page layouts to help them get started. tinyurl.com/TS-comic-life
Sock puppets
Similar in style to Tellagami, children can use this app to record spoken story ideas – only here, their words are brought to life by a series of glove puppets… tinyurl.com/TS-sockpuppets
