Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books Project – Glow Meet
Overview
St James's pupils and the Funny Face Song
P1 pupils in 5 schools in 3 local authorities started using Glow to facilitate a book project on the subject of Julia Donaldson books. Initially St James’s Primary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had wanted to undertake a literacy project and thought Glow would be an interesting way to open this up and make links with other schools at the same time. Athelstaneford Primary school in East Lothian was also interested in taking this forward. Through the teachers collaborating within the national Collaborative Projects group within Glow, schools in Renfrewshire, East Lothian and East Dunbartonshire decided to work together over a period of 6 weeks. Although there are many aspects we could focus on for this group, in this Cookbook we will learn what was involved in adding the Glow Meet web part, in joining a Glow Meet session and how this culminated in the author herself joining the schools in a live session. In other Cookbooks on this project additional aspects will be investigated.
Although the group was developed as the project continued for the teachers involved, a similar project could be done with very little customisation of a Glow group and very little information added. Throughout this Cookbook we will concentrate on the simple usage of the group for the purposes of using Glow Meet, although there are obviously options for further development which were taken within this particular group.
In the recipe section of the Cookbook you will find several videos to take you through the process of setting up your own Glow Group should you wish to undertake a similar project. At the very end of the Cookbook there is an impact section containing a video interview with one of the teachers involved in the project.
Context
Anne Louise Nicholson had originally wanted to work on a literacy project with P1 which could have a different dimension from other projects, she wanted to be able to extend outside of the classroom. Having used Glow for groups within the whole school previously this seemed like the logical next step. Through participation in the National Collaborative Projects group Anne Louise Nicholson had made contact with Lynne Lewis from Athelstaneford Primary in East Lothian who was keen to take this forward with her.
Athelstoneford Puppet Show for Julia Donaldson Project
The project was expanded by Anne Louise Nicholson and Lynne Lewis to other schools from East Lothian, Sarah Boyd at Longniddry Primary and Emma Kerr at Pencaitland Primary and also Laura Kerr at Lairdsland in East Dunbartonshire. Eventually the project comprised of 5 different P1 classes across 3 different local authorities. Within the main, each class used only a teacher machine with web cam/microphone and speakers, although St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire allowed the pupils to use computers individually to contribute to Discussion Boards. Anne Louise at St James’s took the responsibility of setting up the Glow Group with the required webparts.
Lairdsland Primary Julia Donaldson Glow Meet
In the main regular web conferencing, or Glow Meet sessions were held with all schools participating. Each of these was led by a different school and the teachers had planned what the content and context of each session would be. All of this was building towards the final Glow Meet session where the schools would join with the author Julia Donaldson. The whole project had already taken place when we spoke to the teachers which allowed us to have a complete view of how the project had gone and its impact on the pupils and teachers involved. We will concentrate on St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire for illustration in this Cookbook.
In discussion with Anne Louise Nicholson we learned that the project had set out to address many experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence but we have selected a few of these pertinent to our concentration on Glow Meet:
Experiences – Listening and Talking
- LIT 0-01a– I enjoy exploring and playing with the patterns of language and can use what I learn.
- LIT 0-01b– I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read and listen to, and can share my likes and dislikes.
- LIT 0-01c – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
- LIT 0-02a / ENG 0-03a – As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.
- LIT 0-04a – I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.
- LIT 0-09a – Within real and imaginary situations, I share experiences and feelings, ideas and information in a way that communicates my message.
Experiences – Reading
- LIT 0-07a / LIT 0-16a / ENG 0-17a– To help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning to what I already know.
Ingredients
- 5 P1 classes
- Each teacher needed a computer with an internet connection
- Each teacher needed a Glow username and password
- Membership of the National level group which had been set up for the project
- Simple web camera
- Speakers
- Microphone
- Screen to project onto to enable whole class to see for web conference sessions
- New page added to Glow group
- Glow Meet web part added to Glow group and configured
- Julia Donaldson books for each class
- Several Glow Meet or web conferencing sessions with all the schools involved
- Participation from the author Julia Donaldson for the last session
- Planning documents for the web conferencing sessions shared and agreed on by each teacher
Julia Donaldson Literacy Project Glow Group
In the next sections, we’ll learn how to recreate the elements of the Glow group that the teachers used for the project. In particular, we’ll find out how to add a new page to a group, add a Glow Meet web part and configure this and join a Glow Meet session. Each video lasts for around 2 minutes and you can choose which section to watch at any time.
Recipe
The videos begin by quickly showing the Glow Group with the additional page and the Glow Meet web part and then develop into explaining how a page can be added to a Glow Group and then move through adding the Glow Meet web part, configuring it and onto joining a Glow Meet session. The videos finish with a longer tour through the Glow Group and an interview with one of the teachers involved.
What does the group with the additional page and the Glow Meet web part look like? (0:25)
Adding the new page to the Glow Group (1:18)
Adding the Glow Meet web part (1:22)
Creating the Glow Meet room (2:53)
Joining the Glow Meet (1:57)
Where to get additional help with Glow Meet (1:47)
An extended tour of the Glow Group (8:35)
Further information on using the Glow Meet tool can be found in a number of places: searching on Glow Help at the bottom of every page will bring you information; clicking the Learning about Glow link on the left-hand navigation bar will take you to a menu where you will be able to access the Glow Meet training guide or the Glow Meet online tutorial.
Impact
In this section you will be able to view a short excerpt of an video interview with Anne Louise Nicholson from St James’s Primary school (Paisley) in Renfrewshire. Please see other Cookbooks on this project for interviews with Anne Louise on different aspects of the project.
Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on the Glow Meet sessions (1:36)
