A little about me...


Hi! Welcome to my blog, this is my first post and it's just a little bit about who am I and why I wanted to create this blog.

I'm James Fraser and currently I'm a Computing leader at at Elsley Primary School in Wembley, London. I am writing this blog in conjunction with my school, where I have teaching now for 2 years. Previous to this job, I worked as a class teacher for 8 years in KS1 and KS2. For 6 of those years, I was the ICT co-ordinator which I had a huge passion for. I love using technology in school and bringing new technologies into schools. I will be discussing the endless benefits in a future blog but I want to focus more now on why I am writing this blog.

As an ICT co-ordinator in my previous schools, I would map out a whole school curriculum and provide resources and INSETS to year groups but found that so many teachers are afraid of using ICT to it's maximum potential and wouldn't even attempt fun and engaging topics like animation because it was too much work. Some teachers also find topics like coding and programming far too scary to even comprehend, and so I found teachers were ignoring my curriculum expectations and instead, use their time in the ICT suite for research or online maths games.

I know I am not speaking about all teachers here, I know there are plenty who embrace ICT/Computing in their ICT lessons and into other lessons, but I wanted to A) post fun and engaging ideas and good lessons which I have taught to maybe inspire some teachers to say - "That looks quite cool, I'd love to try that!" and B) I wanted to celebrate the work that the children at Elsley Primary School achieve in lessons.  I feel I have already made a huge difference to the children's knowledge and skills in Computing with the curriculum, planning and resources I have put in place. Children enjoy the lessons are are always being exposed to new skills and technologies.

As the school's computing specialist, I teach every class from Reception to Year 6, once a week while the class teachers have their PPA time. This means that I have a broad range of ICT requirements for every year group from EYFS to KS2 and have a clear progression of skills and resources throughout the school.

In this blog, I will share lessons and resources as well as raise discussion points such as, which is the best mobile technology to have in schools? and Should schools keep their ICT suites?

Please comment, like and share with other teachers you may think may be interested in reading this blog and contact me if you have any questions... eat.sleep.ict.repeat@gmail.com

Have a good day!

James Fraser.





Comments

  1. Mr. Tamblyn12 February 2018 at 12:46

    Hi James,

    I am an eLearning/Computing Coordinator and Year 6 teacher at a British school in Madrid. I too am passionate about using technology in the classroom. I would be happy to share some ideas with you.

    First of all, you say you like using the green screen, with Doink, is great. Have you tried using a pizza box, painted green? Really effective so small focus work with models etc.

    Don´t suppose you have any assessment booklets or anything for Computing for Y1-6?

    Thanks, Luke Tamblyn

    luke.tamblyn@kings.education

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Green Screen Movies with Nursery

Image
It's never too early to start using technology! I should know, my 3 year old can't keep her hands off my smart phone and tablet! I don't teach Nursery but after a staff INSET I did on using technology in the classroom, I was approached by the Nursery teacher who explained the children were learning about Fairytale stories. Her original plan for one activity was to dress them up and get them to act out Fairytale plays, however after watching my INSET, she changed it from performing a play to creating a Green Screen movie! We set up a little studio in Nursery using two Green Screens for the floor and wall. You can buy a Green Screen from Amazon here. I then filmed the children using the app DoInk. This app is not free but I have downloaded other green screen apps and find this one is the best. I think the price has also reduced recently and is available for £2.99. This app is also only available on IOS app store for Apple devices. It is incredibly eas...
Read more

Adverts for WaterAid

Image
I've been trying out multimedia projects with Year 5 for a couple of years but never gave the children enough focus to produce a decent film. Then, after watching a project that ICT with Mr P created with his Year 4's on Greenpeace's campaign to stop the production of Palm Oil from Orangutan's rain forests, I was inspired for my children to make an advert for a charity. This meant contributing to a real life campaign, raising awareness, making a difference and giving their ICT learning real purpose.   Mr P's RangTang Palm Oil Campaign   I was also working hard this year to link my work with what the children were learning in class. During Spring 1, Year 5 learn about rivers and the water cycle. So I thought it would be a great opportunity to create an advert for WaterAid, one of the world's biggest charities for helping bring fresh water and hygiene solutions to over 30 countries who don't have access to clean sanitation.  I shared wit...
Read more

First lesson of the year - Online Safety Competition!

Image
I firmly believe that the first topic that children should learn / review at the start of every year is Online Safety. Online Safety links into every other topic I teach and will be the key to protecting children from online dangers and helping them make good choices when it comes to internet etiquette outside of school. I always run an Online Safety competition for Years 2 - 6 to draw something with an online safety message. This is then displayed on the wall on our Online Safety display. Children can also take home a winning certificate! So far, from my 6 years at Elsley, I have chosen 6 different themes.... In the first year, I wanted to get to know the children as I was new to the school so the competition was to draw a selfie and tweet an online safety message. The template can be found HERE and the accompanying PowerPoint is HERE if you would like to use them. The following year, I had determination to purchase some new robots for the school as they only had a ...
Read more