c. Selecting ICT Resources

The teacher in the case study is completely at home with the skills behind most of the options we have looked at above. Although she does have a copy of the CD 'Writing with Symbols', she is able to photocopy symbols from a rebus book that she has. She has used newspapers and videos, she already has some word-processed materials that she has created by using cut and paste techniques to create worksheets with symbols and text to support some to the learners.

You may not be in the same position as she is, so we shall look at the options in the context of your school and your experience. Think about the following points as they apply to you:

Use discussion only, and not use any ICT (or other technology) at all.
I have a bit of a problem with this (I would say that, wouldn't I?) in as much as my own experience of working with discussion alone is that it can be hugely enjoyable, but that learners often have limited knowledge to develop discussion. Sometimes their ability to recall topics is limited unless they produce some form of record of their discussion. Often some learners will dominate discussion overpowering those that lack confidence in speaking in group situations. In terms of the objectives set for this case study, there is such a wealth of material available from the World Wide Web and CD-ROM. I really would want to get the most out of the discussion opportunities, the technology and the pupils by combining some of the options. Using IC provides the learners with positive self -esteem when they view the final copy of the work that they have produced. Technology can support those who would other wise be fearful of any literacy exercise due to their lack of confidence.

Use a word processor package to create worksheets of wordlists using words relevant to topics in the news at the present time.
The learners could select those relevant to their write up and then use a worksheet containing words supported with relevant symbols that the learners would need to include in their write up One or more similar suggestions may need to be added to these to support the literacy needs of some of the learners. Some learners find it difficult to accept support that they need with literacy skills and tasks involving the creation of written text create barriers to the learner's work ethic. My own opinion is that support in the form of a list of words on a worksheet is readily accepted when the leaner realises they have the opportunity to create word processed text rather than the usual hand-written efforts.

Use symbols that the learners could cut and paste to illustrate the main points of their story.
This isn't strictly an ICT option, but it would be if it were carried out by using a CD such as Writing with Symbols where the learner would input all the words relevant to their news story. The activity could be carried out by brainstorm of all the relevant words associated with the story that could be later rearranged into order creating a newspaper layout format using cut and paste techniques.

Use some video or print materials that the learners could use to identify the main points of their story.
This isn't strictly an ICT option, but it would be if it were done in conjunction with the word-processed worksheets or some work on the World Wide Web looking at other views on the topics. The best thing about it is that looking at video or print material provides a range of stimuli to the learner so that any information deficits that exist for reasons beyond the scope of the teacher can be neutralised.

Use a CD-ROM to illustrate important news events in the past.
Almost any CD-ROM encyclopaedia will give you some information on important news events in the past that could be demonstrated to the learners. You probably know about Encarta and Britannica, and other products such as Hutchinson's and Compton's provide inexpensive if inconsistent sources of data. The point here is that you are not looking for thorough, exhaustive and expert treatment of topics - in some ways, the briefer the better. The biggest problem that arises with mass market CD-ROM resources is their US orientation - good European, British or Welsh focus is very difficult to find.

Use the World Wide Web to gather materials from a range of newspaper web sites.
The World Wide Web is a useful source of pictures and graphics that can be copied into Words documents to support the learners understanding of written text. The problem with using the World Wide Web with SEN is that the sites can display many added sources of information, which distract the attention of the learners. A positive way to support the learners to use this resource includes accessing sites with known addresses rather than carrying out search functions.

The following web addresses can be used to provide print outs from which the learners can identify keywords to be used in their interpretation of the story. Pictures can also be copied and pasted into the learner's word-processed document where relevant. It may be an idea to lead the learners through the activity of browsing the different web pages as on many of the sites there is a menu of the different headlines that need to be select to reach the story.

www.thisissouthwales.co.uk
The web page of the Evening Post. It contains the main local stories in an all text format with no photographs to support the learners needs.

www.mirror.co.uk
The main national headlines in the Mirror supported at the bottom of the homepage by Mirrorpix - the Mirrors online picture library providing a catalogue of pictures associated with the topic entered in the search function.

www.thesun.co.uk
The format of this web site looks more like a newspaper. There are pictures adjacent to the stories making the headlines on these pages.

www.guardianunlimited.co.uk
This does not resemble a newspaper format, on the homepage there is an index of all the headlines for the day - written text only. There are no pictures to support the text on this web site.

www.express.co.uk
This web site is set out like a newspaper, it contains the UK's news stories under the latest news hyperlink. This hyperlink lead to the BBC news web site with detailed descriptions and relevant pictures to support the stories.

www.bbc.co.uk/news
The homepage of the BBC news, containing stories making the headlines in the newspapers and on the TV. A very useful web site in that it contains pictures, some shortened versions of the main stories and video links.

Use a word processor to create a variety of text formats for the headlines chosen by the learners.
This option is useful to support the learners to make their stories more like a newspaper article by experimenting with a range of text fonts available and changing the size of their chosen heading. There are two ways that this can be carried out, having input a number of words for the heading changes can be made using the text options on the format toolbar. Alternatively learners can input the heading of their choice into a variety of WordArt formats.

Have the learners to put stories together to form a newspaper.
If this is the end intention then it maybe an idea at the beginning of the activity to allocate learners to different types of stories to obtain the standard newspaper layout at the end, including sport, current affairs etc. However learners have gathered information they can print out their account of the events and physically compile this using cut and paste techniques. If you feel confident you could paste all the learners word-processed documents into one file and have a collective word-processed newspaper.

Now that you've looked at my ideas about the options available, you need to make your own choices. The teacher in the case study has decided to use all options except WordArt to produce the headlines for the learner's stories. In this instance the teacher takes the learners for all their key skills needs and is therefore able to cover the activity in a week using on average a one-hour session each day. You need to plan to do something of this sort. On the next page, make a copy and fill out the summary to help you get focus on what you will do. I've put in some suggestions - you can use these as you like. Think of some uses of your own, and make a short note on what you will have to do to make it work, what you expect the benefit to be to your learners, and what difficulties you expect to encounter when you do it in the classroom.

Resources Selected for Work on Discussion of Topics