Part 2:
Teaching With ICT

a. Structuring Lessons

In the case study we are dealing with, the teacher has a fairly regular pattern to the sessions in which she uses the CD-ROM based activities to generate writing. She tends to start with a teacher-led introduction to the session, outlining the area for coverage in the session. In an hour-long lesson, she might restrict herself to instructions, directions or explanations.

From the introduction, she will set pairs or small groups work to do, using either printed worksheets, a section of the CD-ROM or specific sites on the World Wide Web. This work is structured, and she monitors progress around the class until she can get them to report back to the whole group on their progress, to summarise their progress in small groups to feedback in the next session, or to e-mail their drafts as appropriate.

Again, you might not work in exactly this way, but you probably do have a pattern that you favour as a teacher. Characterise this pattern to yourself now, and consider how the use of ICT as a resource might fit into it.

Over a five-week period, spending two hours a week on the coursework, the teacher in the case study has wanted to introduce the ICT based work in the second week, spending the first week on ensuring using other means that all pupils were reasonably familiar with the distinctions between the types of writing. First let's recall the main learning objectives the teacher has for her pupils in this area:

• Provide written instructions on a limited range of simple tasks.
• Provide directions to their school using maps and their own knowledge of areas and locations.
• Provide explanations of phenomena and processes within the typical range of a pupil's experience.
• Express themselves clearly and concisely in writing.
• Use formal and informal registers in their expression in a manner that is fit for purpose and audience.

The coursework the teacher has decided to produce is based on a scenario that will produce:

• A five-page website for the school.
• A document describing the processes undergone to create the school website.

Below is a summary of how weeks two-five are structured to use ICT to meet these objectives. Take a look at this summary and then produce your own account, and your own lesson plans, showing how you would use the ICT resources we have been discussing to do the same job. You might wish to extend or contract the time, and to fit the plans, duration and work around your own experience of working with this or a similar piece of writing.

Case Study Lesson Structure

Week 2 - Use the CD to consolidate pupils' understanding of the forms of writing, especially using the short task elements.

• Class introduction and targeted questions - 'warm-up' from week one, where printed examples were used to generate ideas.
• CD-ROM (short task elements) - running from computer where possible, or copied and printed to worksheet for filling in. Pairs or small groups.
• Pairs read out their examples of short sets of directions, descriptions and instructions - comment by peers.

Week 3 - Use the direction-giving task with sample maps/ sample descriptions to generate a set of directions for the coursework.

• Class introduction.
• Pupils work in pairs on the CD-ROM - some groups work out the directions together and some create description of school.
• One pupil writes the directions/descriptions and e-mails them to the other.
• The second pupil checks the draft of the directions against the online (or printed) model answers provided by teacher.

Week 4 - Use the 'Build a Website' element of the CD-ROM to generate sample web pages for coursework.

• Class introduction.
• Pupils work in pairs or threes on using the CD-ROM stimulus material to write their own pages - where possible and desired, pupils use other resources from the World Wide Web to supplement those on the CD-ROM.
• Students can e-mail the sheets to each other for checking, or print as drafts for checking.

Week 5 - Gather all elements produced so far to create a five-page site.

• Class introduction - to 'workshop' method.
• Students work individually through the whole package on CD-ROM over the two hours to ensure that they have produced all elements needed for the coursework.
• Homework set for pupils to ensure that all elements are complete.

b. Managing Learning in the Classroom